Towards citizen economic empowerment and diversification

It is also pleasing to notice from the Parliamentary floor that MPs subject bills to some measure of citizen empowerment. It is important that this continues to be the character of deliberations in Parliament.

We have also seen this renewed focus on citizen economic empowerment extended to legislation, for example the review of the PPAD Act and promulgation of the Local Government Procurement Act in 2008. The review of the PPAD Act provided Government with an opportunity to leverage on its spending as a tool for citizen empowerment and SMME development. Providing for prescription of preferences, in my view, was a major breakthrough as it allows for Government to signal to the market its direction in so far as preferential procurement is concerned. I therefore, would like to urge Government to continually review these Acts to enable citizen companies and small businesses to benefit more from Government procurement as a way forward.