The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng welcomes the commitment made by the MEC for Economic Development, Parks Tau, that the bulk of the R250 million that the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) has been sitting on since last year, will be used to assist small businesses that were affected by looting and vandalism last week.
In a social media post on Twitter in response to our call for GEP funds to be used to assist small businesses impacted by the looting, the MEC indicated that R200 million will be used to assist small businesses affected by the unrest.
According to the MEC, the details of exactly how to access these funds will be finalised by the end of July.
The DA is calling on the MEC to ensure that these funds are made accessible to small businesses as soon as practically possible after 31 July 2021.
In addition, we urge the MEC to ensure that the eligibility criteria include saving as many jobs as possible and getting the Gauteng economy going.
Our economy has already been brought to its knees by the harsh Covid-19 regulations which have led to a number of small businesses having to close shop or retrench staff as they were unable to afford to keep their full workforce employed.
The announcement by the Economic Development MEC is a step in the right direction and will go a long way to ensuring that our small businesses are able to get back on their feet again, salvage some jobs and get the wheels of the provincial economy turning again.
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