“The face of township economy never will be the same again.”
These were the words of Lebogang Maile, Gauteng MEC for Economic Development.
Addressing community members at the Munsieville Sports Complex and at the Chief Mogale Community Hall in Kagiso respectively, Maile says the Gauteng government is on the verge of working with local business people to revive township economy.
The topic was focused on in the State of the Province Address delivered by Gauteng Premier David Makhura early this year. In pursuit of this objective, Maile has embarked on road shows in July and August to meet entrepreneurs across 50 townships in Gauteng.
The road shows targeted township businesses ranging from construction, brick-making, bakeries and confectioneries, welding works, panel beaters, fresh produce, couriers and transport, informal traders, restaurants, and bed and breakfast establishments.
The purpose of the campaign is to forge partnerships to build durable and productive township businesses and revitalise the township economy to generate inclusive growth and improve the quality of life in these areas.
Addressing the community on a variety of business and economic issues ranging from economic and infrastructure development, business mentoring, market access to production and manufacturing of goods and sales, among others, Maile said government is ready and willing to assist people.
“The reason we are visiting communities is because as Gauteng government we have realised that the state of our township economies is bad and needs to be revived,” said Maile.
Maile said despite people being unemployed, he encouraged local people to create cooperatives in a bid to create jobs. He said government would provide funding for people to grow their business and be able to repay the loans.
“We also want to engage our people in entrepreneurship development. We are doing this because we want to engage them in business management. However, this could be done by working together with businesses as well as banks so that young people can access funds from the banks.”
He also encouraged business people to buy in bulk. He said bulk buying will help local people to develop a value chain. He said that could be possible only if business people work together for the betterment of the local economy.
Radical revitalisation of the township economy will give communities the opportunity to revamp existing businesses, and allow money to remain within the country, which would help to boost the South African economy.
