Cape Town - Small and medium enterprises (SME) have called on government and stakeholders to make information on tender compliance available to the “people on the ground”.
The owners of small businesses say there's is too much red tape and little information when it comes to the required paperwork to tender for government projects.
This was highlighted following a call by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) for local development organisations to submit a database of their SMEs to be considered for community projects.
Prasa recently made a call to the Bishop Lavis Development Forum, for 15 qualifying contractors to take on various projects. They would be part of Prasa's multi-million rand programme of rebuilding the Central Line between Cape Town and Netreg station in Kalksteenfontein.
The Forum’s secretary Michael Hoffmeester said only six out of 300 applicants, were compliant.
"The request for contractors who are interested to apply for work on the Prasa Central Line project at the Bishop Lavis railway station was welcomed by the community of Bishop Lavis, Matroosfontein, Clarke Estate and Trinity Place.
"More than 300 applicants were received, but unfortunately only 6 companies were registered and compliant. Applications were received from building and carpentry, plumbing, painting, tiling, paving, electrical, cleaning and catering.
The reasons for non-complaince given by non- registered contractors included lack of start up capital, too much red tape regarding documentation, and poor governance.
"Government is doing it's best to the assist the SMEs but it is not enough. Also, the bigger companies are reluctant to assist and to give smaller companies or individuals the opportunity to grow their business“ said Hoffmeester.
Zino Mini, Metrorail spokesperson, said they were aware of the SMEs’ concerns.
"The small businesses have requested additional engagement with Prasa’s appointed main contractors. Prasa is bringing the employment and business opportunities to the Community as it mends that train service.
“However, there are always dynamics that are beyond our control that come with projects. With this in mind, with any projects, we are governed by laws. As Prasa we then fully agree with the communities when they stress the 'lack of access to mobility, is lack of access to opportunities.
"We are currently planning to conduct community workshops as well in the coming weeks on the Central Line. The workshop is aimed at sharing information about our supply chain management processes and policies,“ Mini said.
"We are doing this to close the gap, where government entities are blamed for ignoring local businesses – this came (out) strongly during our engagements with community leaders that include councillors."
A similar concern was raised by the Dunoon community when MEC for Infrastructure Tertuis Simmers, encouraged business owners to fix their paperwork, and take advantage of possible opportunities from the Killarney Gardens Mixed-use development. Simmers was addressing a crowd during the sod turning of the project on July 12.
Business owners and community activist, Michael Mzolisa said was on a mission to register a business where he could invest his skills.
"It hasn't been easy. There's a lot of papers you need to have of which you only hear when you try to take a step ahead. The whole process is discouraging but because I don't want to run a business to enrich myself but rather to create jobs, upskill youth and reduce poverty I am willing to do whatever it takes. I just wish government could bring workshops to our communities and lessen the compliance rules.“
John Goliath of the Heideveld Forum said his organisation was in talks with different forums in the city trying to find solutions to this.
"We had a meeting with forums from as far as Khayelitsha discussing this issue, small business owners miss out on opportunities and the same people who are privileged to have papers will benefit from many projects and it's not fair. We will continue to engage and find a solution."
The City of Cape Town's Mayco member for finance, Siseko Mbandezi, said the City's tendering process was a structured process in order to be fair and transparent especially as public money was involved.
"The City is bound by national supply chain management legislation as well as the national treasury regulations, which also affects suppliers. The City does find ways to make processes easier within the context of the legislative frameworks that exist. We continue to engage with the regulatory bodies on a regular basis to propose ways to simplify legislation."
He encouraged small business owners to visit the City's website to find out more about compliance or their weekly workshops.