IFP: HELP BLACK BUSINESS STAND UP AGAIN
The IFP has called upon the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Senzo Mchunu, to act on his call on black businesspeople by channelling resources to help black businesspeople who were the victims of political violence. The IFP said this in a statement issued today in reaction to Premier Mchunu’s State of the Province Address in Pietermaritzburg. In his address, Premier Mchunu said “we are encouraging our compatriots in the townships and in rural areas to work hard and rekindle their interests in business. Our message as government is that go back to those general dealership and township businesses that characterised this country for many years.”
Reacting to the Premier’s call, IFP Member of the Provincial Legislature Joshua Mazibuko said: “We applaud Premier Senzo Mchunu for being one ANC leader who has acknowledged the crucial role that was played by black businesspeople in the townships and rural areas in the past.
“That spirit of entrepreneurship which flourished in the seventies and eighties was anchored on the principles of self-help and self-reliance advocated by Inkatha in the struggle for liberation. Unfortunately, that spirit was stifled by the ANC-UDF-SACP forces that ran amok and destroyed black businesses and other black-owned projects, all in the name of the struggle for liberation. Such destruction was seen as justifiable; hence our people were never compensated for those tragic losses.
“Now that the government seems to realise the damage caused by that strategy, we call on the Premier to lead a campaign to gather together those business people most of whom never recovered from that tragedy.
He must begin the process of engaging them with a view to help them get up again. Only this will prove the government’s seriousness to the Premier’s call.”
