LET us put aside the inaccuracy of Mr Lovells’ ever-changing and spurious job figures and consider the sheer audacity of his latest comments, Clarity given on potential poultry job losses (Business Report, June 19).
They demonstrate his blatant disregard for genuine job growth and fairer prices for consumers.
Just two weeks after striking a deal with US Poultry, after forcing an unnecessarily drawn out negotiation process, holding our Agoa membership to hostage, the Sapa chief executive now shamelessly seeks to play the victim.
Besides embarrassing our reputation as an African state that is serious about international trade, Lovell and local poultry magnates have spent many months of negotiations, holding tens of thousands of jobs hostage. Now those jobs and more than R30 billion worth of exports are only tentatively secure, as South Africa has been included in Agoa renewal, but subject to an “out of cycle review”.
Lovell’s latest claim that local poultry now stands to lose about 6 500 jobs as a result of the recent Agoa deal is just another fiction, in keeping with his mythology that local chicken industry are victims of American imperialism.
For too long, the SA poultry bosses have been using government to bully potential importers. SA poultry, like all serious industries in SA, must now come to terms with the features of any successful economy. That means healthy competition and ultimately better prices for consumers.
At the end of the day the Agoa deal is good for South African consumers and for the economy.
David Wolpert
CHIE EXECUTIVE, Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of SA
Department is a rudderless ship
By her own admission Lindiwe Zulu (Minister of Small Business Development) admitted that prior to her appointment by Jacob Zuma she knew very little about small business,
The article in Business Report of June 19 headlined Bureaucracy halts SMME department pretty much confirms that she still knows very little. Her department was established last year and received R3.5 billion in this year’s budget.
Other than spewing all the corporate bluster about “pursuing an aggressive entrepreneurship drive, unlocking economic opportunities, creating an enabling environment, achieve inclusive economic growth” very little has happened and will never happen.
Zulu is already wriggling out of her responsibilities by saying the economy is not doing well (rather at odds with what Zuma professes) and revenue is not good. Perhaps somebody needs to tell Zulu that a budget allocation is not a gift from heaven to create a bureaucratic monster. It is intended to fund programmes to enable people to learn about what business is all about.
Fortunately parliament’s portfolio committee has also seen that the Department of Small Business is another rudderless ship – launched merely to create income for some of the President’s cronies – of which Zulu is one. The NDP (National Development Plan) is another grandiose plan that so far has not even started its engine and will be remembered as nice financial send-off for Trevor Manuel.
If only we could get competent people to run the country we could prosper and do something to reduce unemployment but it will never happen.
Lindiwe Zulu should actually spend time with businessmen from all walks of life and see what happens at the coalface instead of talking! Maybe our chambers of commerce can assist?
Tony Ball
Durban