ANC is 'anti-small business'

Cape Town - Democratic Alliance Parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko believes the ANC has cultivated an "anti-small business" environment in favour of politically-connected big businesses, the Cape Argus reported on Tuesday.

"The African National Congress has created a class of tenderpreneurs - people who work purely to get big state contracts based on their connections in government," Mazibuko told reporters on Monday.

She said this statement was backed up by South Africa's ranking by the World Economic Forum. The country was 112th in terms of the "burden of government regulation", and 114th in terms of "favouritism in decisions of government officials".

The country's failure to grow the economy and create jobs was, in part, a failure to cultivate a nation of entrepreneurs.

According to the newspaper, Mazibulo said red-tape and bureaucracy were crushing the entrepreneurial spirit of South Africans.

She said it took 19 days and five procedures to start a local business in South Africa, whereas it took only one procedure and a day in New Zealand.