Ntshavheni: 51% black ownership requirement for funding is fake news
EWN / 24 MARCH 2020 - 19.11/ GAYE DAVIS
With small, medium and micro-enterprises set to be hardest hit by the national shutdown, there was fury at the suggestion that only companies that are majority black-owned would qualify for government assistance.
CAPE TOWN - The government will not require small companies to have 51% black ownership in order to qualify for financial help.
Minister of Small Business Development Khumbudzo Ntshavheni at an inter-ministerial briefing on 24 March 2020 detailing how government will respond ahead of and during the 21-day lockdown announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: Kayleen Morgan/EWN.
Lobby group AfriForum and trade union Solidarity threatened to go to court after a draft document went viral on social media.
But on Tuesday, Small Business Development Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni dismissed the notion as "fake news".
With small, medium and micro-enterprises set to be hardest hit by the national shutdown, there was fury at the suggestion that only companies that are majority black-owned would qualify for government assistance.
Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni: "I also want to clarify the fake news that is going around that our support to small businesses has a requirement for 50% [51%] black ownership – we are supporting all small businesses in South Africa across the demographic spread of our population."
The business growth and resilience fund has been created to give local manufacturers and suppliers an opportunity to help produce medical and hygiene supplies required to fight COVID-19 and also to support efforts to ensure food security.
Ntshavheni said that the money would be made available at an interest rate of prime less 5%.
The minister said that there would be penalties for those who abused the fund.
"We are very clear that any misuse both by our officials and entrepreneurs who apply for the funding, we are going to make sure we apply to the letter of the law the provisions but we are also going to institute a penalty for everybody who misuses that facility [by having to repay] at prime plus 10%."
To track the latest developments around the coronavirus both in South Africa and abroad, click on this live status report from Strategix.
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LINK : https://ewn.co.za/2020/03/24/ntshavheni-51-black-ownership-requirement-for-funding-is-fake-news
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