Tag: National Small Enterprise Amendment Bill

There are two customary rules in South African law-making that are adhered to almost to a T: The law must make matters worse, or the law must miss the point. Rarely, if ever, does legislation that comes out of the South African Parliament or the provincial legislatures make things better for citizens and consumers. The new National Small Enterprise Amendment Bill, 2020, is no exception.

The Minister of Small Business Development has been parading a draft National Small Enterprise Amendment Bill. The period for allowing interested parties to submit comments about the draft Bill to the department has just ended. This ill-considered proposal would authorise officials to break contracts deemed 'unfair', no doubt causing commercial uncertainty and thereby discouraging larger businesses from contracting with small enterprises. The Bill defeats its own purpose.