Black business must deliver affordable, quality products and services if it wants government contracts, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday.
“As we support black business, black business must bring a commitment of delivery, cost-competitive and quality of items that are procured,” he told analysts and business people in Soweto.
He asked why a government-built school cost a minimum of R20 million to construct, while a private sector-funded school only cost around R5 to R10 million.
“Something is wrong with this system of creating layers and layers of business because the primary objective of building a school is made secondary... to creating business beneficiaries.”
Mantashe said the primary outcome of the African National Congress lekgotla in July was that government needed to drop the system of tenders.
The government needed to move away from giving business to black companies, and then afterwards arguing about quality and cost.
Mantashe said the ANC would meet the Black Business Council to discuss the strengths and failures of black economic empowerment and the role of state procurement in transformation of the economy. - Sapa