Cofesa calls for R500 000 relief grants to rescue companies

We support DA’s calls to release the funds meant as Covid-19 relief for companies and calls for grants of  R500 000 to rescue struggling tax paying companies as a rescue measure. Their numbers declined dramatically.

A precedent has been set to award R35 000 each to small farmers and R200 million relief funding for tourism.

Only 8% of the funds meant as Covid-19 relief for small businesses allocated

We support your call to the chairperson of the portfolio Committee on Small Business Development, Violet Siwela, to ask that Minister Ntshavheni urgently report to the Committee explain why her department has only allocated 8% of the funds meant as Covid-19 relief for small businesses.

We call for R500 000 grants  to rescue struggling tax paying companies to survive Covid.

‘DA spokesperson on small business Jan de Villiers said the auditor-general’s (AG) second report on the financial management of the government’s Covid-19 initiatives revealed that 92% of the financial support earmarked for small businesses has not been paid out.

“Of the R1.4 billion that was budgeted for support to qualifying small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) affected by Covid-19, only 8% of the funds have been spent, meaning that almost R1.3bn of relief lies unspent.

“Minister Ntshavheni has a responsibility to account to Parliament for the reasons as to why the Department of Small Business Development has been sluggish in allocating the relief funds that are so desperately needed by struggling SMMEs across the country,” De Villiers said

He said his party would also seek clarity surrounding the criteria for the allocation of funds and how SMMEs can successfully apply for relief funding while the government continues to enforce extended lockdown regulations, small businesses, and the breadwinners and families it supports will continue to suffer’.

Cofesa repeatedly called on government to  make R500 000 grants to rescue struggling tax paying companies to curb their declining numbers

To create one jobs costs DTI on average an investment of R250 000 while the failure rate of emergent enterprises in SA is 75%, the highest in the world.  Instead DTI should make grants of  R500 000 to rescue struggling tax paying companies to ensure their recovery. A precedent has been set to award R35 000 each to small farmers and R200 million relief funding for tourism.

The decline of SMME’s and corporates  

  • Registered companies declined from 3,2 million to the present 2 million  From 2015 the number of companies registered at SARS declined from 3,2 million to the present 2 million.
  • SMEs have been under particular strain over the last 10 years, failing at a rate of 75%, the highest failure rate in the world.
  • Start-ups declined from 250 000 (2001) to 58 000 (2011) and have been declining ever since.