There is a need honourable Minister for business management skills and technological education. We need to create this culture. With technology, just a few clicks on the mouse helps one register a company online.

Government must be willing to entertain business proposals from the formal to the informal sector, from the rural to the urban areas. The second area is the issue of accountability, we know that we have been inundated with so many agencies; these agencies simply mushroom through funding from provincial and national governments, yet there are no accountability mechanisms in place. Budgets are about getting value for money. Are we getting value for money from these agencies? Absolutely not!

Yes, we need entrepreneurship and black economic empowerment to take off, we need transformation, we need job creation, but we do not want a rearrangement of existing operations. The public has continually heard of BEE generating new productive enterprises, new jobs, how do we ensure that this BEE is not concentrated in the Black executive. We know for a fact that most sectors of the South African economy are dominated by a few major operators- such as mining, manufacturing and construction.

Honourable members, if we are serious about real black economic empowerment, then we have to make room for new comers, we have to let these newcomers establish themselves. Billions in the budget has been allocated to BEE, yet there is little guarantee that it will trickle down to the poorest of the poor. Time and again, we have heard about a number of high profile deals, but how does this money impact the ordinary man or woman on the street?

The business community must see itself as part of the socio-economic transformation. Let us remember that the alleviation of poverty does not need an empowerment policy to drive it.

In the President's state of the Nation address, the President laid out his plans for a wide range of micro reforms, and removing obstacles that enabled South Africa to compete in the global market. Globalisation represents both opportunities and challenges. It does for instance lead to geographical shifts in activities and the division of labour in countries. Labour intensive workers have to market themselves so that investors will choose South Africa as an option. We should be reminded that monetary policy should not be the only way to keep inflation down, production costs also needs to be low.

We have constantly hear the slogans, "buy South African" and "Proudly South African" it is time to make these slogans practical and the ministry needs to develop the appropriate distribution channels.

The IFP believes that it is time for us to sharpen and strengthen our competitiveness. Not surprisingly, we need to focus on marketing and innovation. The international business community is extremely competitive. Businesses today need to continually look at how ways to improve their products, and market them. I believe that this is where DTI needs to tap in and look at more effective marketing strategies.

Coupled with these honourable members, is the message of access to finance entrepreneurs need continuous support in planning and operating skills. We know that unemployment has been directly linked to structural defects due to a skills base that is not commensurate with the requirements of the economy. Let us also, not forget that we are still reeling from the effects of that dysfunctional education system.

The IFP supports the APEX fund, whilst we should not lose sight of the failures of Khula Enterprise Finance. Khula had failed to meet the demand for small business funding. Here again, there needs to be close monitoring, and financing micro businesses that are both viable and sustainable. Honourable Minister, why can't we be like the Asian tigers, who use local raw materials and convert them into finished products within a Labour Intensive Environment and export them to foreign markets which create tremendous job opportunities. Clearly, with a strong rand, the opportunity knocks. Let us swoop the opportunity before it is too late.

Honourable members, Madam Speaker, we should not lose sight that emerging economies are not only growing much faster than rich economies and are more extensive in their use of raw materials and energy BUT also account for a bigger chunk of global output. As Charles Dumas, an economist at Lombard Street Research, neatly puts it, even if a Chinese loaf is a quarter of the cost of a loaf in America it uses the same amount of loaf.