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- The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition had its budget cut by R1.8 billion after government reallocated funds due to Covid-19.
- Minister Ebrahim Patel says his portfolio is prioritising the kind of innovation that the economy will need to recover from the pandemic-induced slump.
- South Africa is now producing its own ventilators for the first time in the pandemic.
Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, has said that the R1.8 billion cut to his department's budget as a result of Covid-19 may hobble some of its programmes, but only re-emphasises the need invest more aggressively in transformational policy in an effort to position the economy for recovery after the pandemic.
Patel reasoned that if the most vulnerable and most excluded businesses are assisted, the economy could emerge from the crisis stronger and less unequal.
Patel was tabling the budget vote for his department on Parliament on Friday. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the department and its entities, including the Competition Commission, have been seized with busting companies for irregular price hikes and regulating businesses whose operations were restricted during the national lockdown.
He pledged that the department would nurture township firms and maintain investments in Special Economic Zones.
The department's budget was cut as part of a reprioritisation of funds towards Covid-19 relief efforts. The budget cut of R1.8 billion brought the department's budget down to just over R9.3 billion.
Patel said that, in spite of the cutbacks, his portfolio would prioritise the kind of innovation and initiative the South African economy would need to recover from the economic fallout of the health crisis.
"Citizens, firms and governments have responded in a way that mitigated the risk and slowed the spread of the coronavirus. We needed to show our resilience by falling back on our own enterprise and innovation," said Patel.
"We must build even greater resilience by making extreme localisation a strategic major policy goal. As a result of the Covid-19 we must carry out our responsibilities in an increasingly constrained environment," Patel said.
Patel said before the pandemic his department had scored some notable successes, including negotiating a trade compact with the United Kingdom following Brexit and an agreement for Toyota to build hybrid cars in South Africa.
South Africa was producing ventilators for the first time during the pandemic.
African National Congress MP, Duma Nkosi, said the department did well to commit to allocating its resources towards growth-oriented programmes that can stimulate post-lockdown growth.
"The budget has been reduced by at least 16%. This is obviously impact on annual and strategic plans. We have engaged the department on the revision of their plans and finding innovative ways to do more with less," said Nkosi.
Democratic Alliance MP, Dean Macpherson, said he was surprised that the minister would mention the locally produced ventilators because the first of those ventilators were supposed to be delivered in the first week of July.
Macpherson challenged Patel to defend lockdown regulations and policies such as the ban on the sale of hot food and other business restrictions which he said harmed the livelihoods of vulnerable workers.
Economic Freedom Fighters MP, Yoliswa Yako, rejected the department's adjusted budget, saying that an already unequal and un-transformed economy would only suffer more as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We are still exporting raw mineral resources and produce only to buy finished goods made from our own resources and materials. We are importing ventilators and PPE while begging for donations. There is no plan that will lead to job creation, development and transformation of the economy," said Yako.
Yako said the legal dispute between the Competition Tribunal and Dis-Chem over the former's finding on price hiking by the pharmacy chain was proof that the South African economy is still controlled by a few, and does not benefit most ordinary South Africans as it should.
