Fin24 reports that according to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, businesses, regardless of race, should receive state support with a "bias towards emerging black business people", as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to batter SA’s struggling economy.
He was answering questions on Tuesday during an online briefing to MPs on National Treasury's Annual Performance Plan. The finance minster said race was a "very vexing question," giving the example of the Magoebaskloof Hotel close to where he lives in Limpopo, which has a white owner but whose staff is overwhelmingly black. "I think we need to support all enterprises, black and white, as long as they are able to remain viable, support our people and create jobs. Let's continue to build this non racial South Africa," he stated. Mboweni added that there would "always be a bias [in state aid] towards emerging black business people because they were discriminated against for a long time." Last week Solidarity and AfriForum lost a case in the High Court to have the empowerment-based criteria for the allocation of relief funds in the tourism sector affected by the pandemic declared unlawful. The trade union has said it would apply to the Constitutional Court to hear the matter.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Cronje at Fin24
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