Swaziland set to empower small businesses

  1. Posted on Monday 25 October 2010 - 15:15
    Mtheto Lungu
    Image of Mtheto Lungu
    Mtheto Lungu, AfricaNews reporter in Lilongwe, Malawi
    Swaziland Parliament will soon discuss the much awaited Citizens Empowerment Bill. The piece of legislature was drafted in accordance with Section 60(3) of the country's Constitution.
    map of swaziland
    Commerce, Industry and Trade minister Jabulile Mashwama said his ministry was pursuing the process of presenting before Parliament the bill that seeks to empower growth in small businesses.

    Section 60(3) reads; "The State shall give the highest priority to the enactment of legislation for the economic empowerment of citizens."

    His principle secretary, Cyril Kunene, told the press: "The Citizens Economic Empowerment Bill is currently under Cabinet approval. It has been discussed at Cabinet level and comments were made by the Cabinet team.

    "The ministry has to address these comments before going back to Cabinet. Once the Bill has been given approval by Cabinet, it will be published as a gazette and it will go to through to the next stage, which Parliament. We expect the Bill to pass Cabinet level in the next two weeks," he explained.

    The online Times of Swaziland reported in order to implement the provision of the Constitution, the Bill makes special reference to targeted citizens, citizens empowered companies, citizen influenced companies and citizen owned companies, as defined in Clause 3 of the Bill.

    "This basically means, for instance, when companies come to invest in Swaziland, are opportunities availed for Swazi citizens’ participation in terms of partnerships and joint ventures. Some countries such as Botswana go as far as ensuring foreign companies give a portion of business to locals and also transfer the necessary skills to locals," it reported last month September.

    The Bill was meant to allow SMEs, including women business people, to negotiate with foreign investors for participation in open sectors.

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