New laws promote township business, taxi ranks to become retail hubs: David Makhura

Gauteng premier David Makhura has announced that his government will introduce a law to promote and protect township businesses.

“The provincial government will introduce the Township Economic Development Bill in the legislature in June this year.

“This new law will nullify all bylaws that make it difficult for township businesses to operate. It will nullify all bylaws that frustrate and suppress the growth and operations of SMMEs and the informal sector,” said Makhura.

“It will also nullify the tendency for the law-enforcement agencies to harass small businesses in our communities, including in the CBDs, especially those that need support to be able to observe the law.”

He said the bill will help to grow township businesses and make them the sites of wealth and job creation in the economy.

Makhura said the taxi industry would also benefit from this announcement as his government was working to improve taxi ranks to make them retail and commercial hubs to create markets for local mechanics, panel beaters, retailers, food sellers and manufacturers.

Earlier, he said his government was going to continue procuring from township businesses and was going to set aside R4bn annually to do so in the next five years.

“We want to roll out this model again to ensure that 2,000 township businesses in Gauteng are able to get work from our government by providing goods and services to our government.

“In addition to township businesses, we will use our infrastructure programme to support 50 black industrialists, enabling them to enter the 10 high-growth sectors of the Gauteng economy,” said Makhura.

His government would use its infrastructure budget to achieve this goal, he said.