SA mistakes progress for launches on small businesses
· Citizen
South Africa does not suffer from a shortage of strategies, frameworks or campaigns aimed at supporting small businesses. What we suffer from is a shortage of implementation.
The department of small business development launched its Red Tape Reduction and Ease of Doing Business Campaign at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange at the end last month.
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I welcome the campaign’s objective because reducing unnecessary bureaucracy is essential if we are serious about growing our economy, creating jobs and enabling entrepreneurs to succeed.
But we should also ask an uncomfortable question. Are we investing public money in removing red tape, or in talking about removing red tape?
For too long, government has mistaken activity for progress.
We have become exceptionally good at organising launches, hosting conferences and unveiling ambitious plans.
Yet none of these events make it easier for an entrepreneur waiting months for municipal approval, a building plan, a trading permit or payment from government.
A campaign does not approve an application. A launch does not process a licence. A summit does not pay an outstanding supplier invoice.
Implementation does.
South Africa’s entrepreneurs do not need more campaigns. They need government systems that work.
If we truly want South Africa to become one of the easiest places in Africa to start and grow a business, then every available rand should be directed towards removing the barriers that entrepreneurs face every day.
Imagine a single digital platform where an entrepreneur could register a business, apply for municipal approvals, submit supporting documents once, track applications in real time and receive automatic updates without visiting many government offices.
Imagine municipalities publishing monthly turnaround times for permits, licences and inspections so investors know exactly where business can move quickly and where unnecessary delays persist.
Imagine dedicated red tape reduction units empowered to intervene when bureaucratic obstacles threaten investment or job creation.
Imagine every sphere of government complying with the legally required 30-day payment period so small businesses are no longer forced to finance government through unpaid invoices. These are not expensive ideas. They are practical reforms that improve productivity, reduce costs and stimulate investment.
The greatest irony is that reducing red tape does not require government to invent complicated new programmes. It requires government to perform the functions it already has more efficiently, more consistently and with far greater transparency. That is why I have consistently called for the introduction of a municipal red tape scorecard.
Municipal managers should have measurable targets for reducing regulatory delays built directly into their performance agreements.
The speed at which municipalities process applications, resolve complaints, approve plans and pay suppliers should become public information.
What gets measured gets managed. Businesses deserve to know which municipalities enable economic growth and which continue to stand in the way.
South Africa also requires broader structural reform. We need a Red Tape Reduction Act that establishes binding service standards across all spheres of government.
We need a national red tape portal where entrepreneurs can report unnecessary regulatory barriers and monitor whether they are resolved.
We need an integrated digital business system that connects company registration, licensing, municipal approvals and regulatory compliance into one seamless process, instead of forcing entrepreneurs to navigate multiple departments.
Most importantly, we need a change in how government defines success.
Success is not measured by the number of campaigns launched.
It is measured by how many unnecessary forms have been eliminated. How many days have been removed from approval processes.
How many suppliers are paid on time. How many entrepreneurs are able to start, grow and employ others because government has become simpler, faster and more responsive.
South Africa’s small businesses are carrying enormous burdens. They contend with unreliable infrastructure, rising costs, crime, weak economic growth and constrained consumer demand.
They should not also have to battle avoidable bureaucracy created by the very institutions established to support them.
The objective of reducing red tape is unquestionably the right one. Now, government must ensure implementation receives the same attention.
The best red tape campaign will not be remembered for the size of its stage, the prestige of its venue or the number of speeches.
It will be remembered because entrepreneurs no longer spend months waiting for approvals, chasing payments or navigating unnecessary bureaucracy.
That is where public money delivers its greatest return. Not in ribbon-cutting ceremonies. In removing the red tape itself.