Some R1bn approved to businesses impacted by July looting - Patel
The
Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel says government has approved
over R1.5 billion in support for businesses affected by the looting unrest seen
in parts of the country in July.
This comes after the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) and the Department of Small Business Development created a package worth some R3.75 billion to assist businesses affected by unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
The minister together with the Development Finance Institutions, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) briefed the media on Tuesday.
“As of today, the IDC and NEF together as part of the DTIC monies has approved R1.5 bn in direct support in 123 separate transactions,” says Patel
He explains that the transactions are companies, associations or those representing other groups that have applied for support.
“It’s not just 123 sites, in fact in a number of cases its more than 1 site that has been affected. A business owner may have a petrol station in two towns that have been affected, or an association that has a number of members they support.”
“When we count the number of physical sites, (as in) buildings that have been affected where we provided support, it amounts to 320 business sites. Those companies together employ about 13 800 workers and that is the current approved transactions that are direct from our entities and have gone to the final beneficiary.”
The minister also explained that most of the support has gone to various businesses in different parts of the economy, from manufacturing companies and retailers to funeral parlors, farmers and others.
“We now working on rebuilding critical infrastructure, these could be public infrastructure like industrial parks, or support for the big malls that have been affected.”
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