Parliament visits KwaDukuza on cost counting mission after July unrest

ANC politicians arrived in KwaDukuza on Tuesday to count the cost of last month’s looting and riots.

By current estimations, more than 400 jobs have been lost and up to 1 000 are under threat, and 360 factories, stores and small businesses were damaged or destroyed throughout the iLembe district.

Officials from iLembe’s 4 municipalities, the district municipality and business organisations joined politicians Violet Siwela of the Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development (PCSBD) and Mandla Rayi, chairperson of the select committee overseeing small business development on an inspection tour of KwaDukuza and Shakaskraal.

They will be overseeing governmental relief efforts across the country but with specific focus on KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

“Parliament has a constitutional responsibility to oversee and hold state organs accountable. We are here to meet relevant departments and coordinate interventions from government so that these affected communities can recover and find stability,” said Rayi.

The visiting ministers heard of the business devastation in the district from Enterprise iLembe CEO, Cheryl Peters.

Enterprise iLembe is surveying iLembe to get a full picture of the difficulties businesses are facing.

Of the businesses that responded to the survey, 37% said they were not insured and could take up to 3 years to recover fully.

The survey is ongoing and figures are expected to go up.

In KwaDukuza, which was the hardest hit municipality, 234 businesses were affected, 45 of which were informal traders.

Ndwedwe reported danger to 350 jobs, while people are struggling to access to food and essentials with little retail available.

In Maphumulo, 26 SMME’s were targeted, leading to about R760 000 in damages and more than 78 employees without jobs.

Mandeni was second worst hit, reporting 71 stores, 13 factories and 43 informal traders affected with about 1 000 jobs at risk.

Violet Siwela emphasised the need for small businesses to be assisted.

“After the monster of Covid-19, SMME’s were already struggling and now they have had further difficulty. We need the Small Enterprise Finance Agency and the Small Enterprise Development Agency to be active in these communities so that they can recover from this disaster,” she said.

Relief efforts include a R3 billion business recovery package announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. PAYE taxes have been deferred for 3 months to help with cashflow during the rebuilding process.