1. Hon. MEC, it is quite ironic that your progress report on the Provincial Recovery and Transformation Plan including the industrial plan to support localisation while investing in the economy for inclusive growth comes up at a time for debate when, we are amidst a socio-economic crisis point.
2. There’s definitely a severe disconnect between the Department of Economic Development and the local communities to relay the opportunities afforded to tackle the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
3. The Minority Front, recommends that the portfolio committee must insist on all economic opportunities for the vulnerable sections of our societies to be broken-down to line-item level, with clear ‘Equity’ indicators attached to these. This will shape the government’s Radical Economic Transformation Programme in a trackable format, so that this Department’s input results in positive outputs.
4. Currently, the progress report given the violent protests indicates that there are no easy victories until we do not bring strong reforms in all other sectors to enable economic stability. SASRIA is only going to pay R4 Billion for R16 Billion stocks looted to eThekwini and Msunduzi businesses. This means that all insurance premiums would increase, further burdening ordinary citizens who are trying to protect their belongings through insurance.
   5. Hon. MEC, the biggest problem we all face is diminishing investor confidence and we expect a follow-up report on a “real” economic recovery report that focuses more on livelihoods of people living below the poverty line.
   6. Thank you

Hon. S. Thakur-Rajbansi
MPL: KZN Legislature
Minority Front Leader