Picture: One of the tuckshop owners, Manini Vlaarmuis
By OBAKENG MAJE
Some aggrieved Small Micro Medium Enterprise (SMME) owners across North West, who received R3500 instead of R10 500 financial muscle in the form of a loan from the Small Enterprises Financial Agency (SEFA) urged the Small Business deputy minister, Dipuo Peters’ intervention.
This was revealed during the Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development and Deputy Minister for Small Business Development, Dipuo Peters’s oversight visits.
Peters and the acting chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Hein April conducted oversights to various North West municipalities and centres of the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) in the province on Tuesday.
One of the beneficiaries, Ramosesane Tselapedi from Lokaleng village said, he had only received a R3500 loan and it is not enough. Tselapedi further said, the first shop where we could buy with the voucher was in Jouberton Township, near Klerksdorp and the other one is in Rustenburg.
“They had also informed us that, the other shop was in Zeerust. I drove there, only to find out it was closed. So, you spend a lot on petrol in order to use the grant,” he said.
Another beneficiary, Manini Vlaarmuis shared the same sentiments. Vlaarmuis said she keeps borrowing money in order to sustain her business.
“I always have to borrow money from my relatives to be able to buy my stock. As you know, most of our customers will request credit.
“So, it is not easy to run a tuckshop because sometimes, I run out of stock during the month. At the same time, I also have to maintain my relationship with my loyal customers. I can’t chase them away when they don’t have money to buy. So I’m not able to sustain my business,” she said.
The Small Business Development deputy minister, Dipuo Peters said: “We are now told that SEFA is depositing some of the money. They shouldn’t wait for us to be here because these people must run their businesses.
“They are running down companies. That is one thing that actually disappointed me. I arrived here and I’m told that these businesses received R10,500 only to find out its R3500. However, we will dig deeper into it.”
The Committee’s acting chairperson, Hein April said, they will need an explanation for the claims made by the business owners.
“We are definitely going to take to task those responsible, which is the people in the department to tell us. According to us, this money has been dispersed and we would want to know how this impasse happened, it is totally unacceptable,” April said.
Meanwhile, the SEFA’s senior manager, Lehane Letlatsa blamed the situation on business owners who changed their contact details.
“The actual offering is R10 500, but when the scheme started, the clients were getting R3500 as a grant. The other R3500 was supposed to be a credit, which the clients never took.
“A year later, the scheme was then revised and the offering was then increased to R10 500, which meant those who had already received R3,500 would automatically get R7000 without the need for them to apply,” he said.
Letlatsa added that the new applicants would have to apply for R10 500 straight. He said they have the list of those who have already received R3 500.
“The bank has been dispersing money into their accounts or into their purchasing cards. So, most of these clients who have changed their cell phones or lost their cards, are the ones who the bank has not been able to contact them.
“However, the money is in their respective purchasing cards. We have verified this with some of the clients, who claim they have not received banking notifications. And they would not get bank notifications because they have changed their cell phone numbers,” said Letlatsa.
The Guardian 