ANC-DA run department leads small business decline as jobs crisis deepens
19 May 2026
One of South Africa's most pressing needs is to create millions of new jobs. Jobs bring dignity, purpose and meaning and uplift individuals and society together.
The Small Business Development Department is at the center of converting entrepreneurship into jobs. Yet it faces material shortcomings on at least three fronts: funding, execution and leadership.
First, the department is structurally underfunded. Its total budget is just R3 billion – about 0.12% of the national budget. In simple words, out of every Rs 100 spent by the government, only 1 percent goes to support small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Secondly, the department is failing to deliver sustainable results. South Africa alone stands to lose 345,000 jobs in the first 90 days of 2026. That means more than 8,000 jobs every day.
Small businesses are considered to be the engine of employment generation. But many SMMEs that receive support from the state are not able to survive beyond the initial stage. We do not need more pilot projects, conferences and slogans. We need sustainable businesses that employ people on a large scale.
Third, there is a crisis of leadership and implementation. This ANC-DA run ministry continues to talk about “inclusive growth” while maintaining an apartheid spatial economy in practice.
Take the township economy as an example. It is still treated as if it should be confined to spaza shops, informal trade and car washes rather than becoming a site of large-scale industrialization and investment.
That is why BOSA reiterates our call to declare the township as a Special Economic Zone. According to UNCTAD, there are 237 SEZs in 38 African countries.
Kenya has 61. Nigeria has 38. Ethiopia has 18. South Africa, the continent's most industrialized economy, lags behind our competitors with only 9 SEZs.
If we are serious about inclusive growth, investment incentives, infrastructure, tax support and industrial policy must reach the townships where millions of South Africans live.
Because township entrepreneurs are already the backbone of the local economy. They create jobs, provide services and promote innovation in impossible circumstances. Imagine what they could do with real state support.
Honorable Chairman,
We cannot solve unemployment by underfunding, mismanaging and under-imagining the department tasked with enabling job creators.
South Africa does not need a survivalist township economy. It needs a growth economy.
And until the Department gets serious about converting entrepreneurship into employment on a large scale, it will continue to undermine the people of South Africa.
Issued by Roger Solomons, BOSA spokesperson, 19 May 2026