The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s remarks during his State of the Nation Address (SONA), acknowledging that small businesses face “a multitude of regulations, by-laws, licensing requirements and bureaucratic hurdles”, and his undertaking that the final Business Licensing Bill must make it easier, not harder, to start and run a business.
In the SONA, the President said: “Nearly all small and medium enterprises have to contend with a multitude of regulations, by-laws, licensing requirements and bureaucratic hurdles. We take seriously the public comments on the draft Business Licensing Bill and will ensure that the final Bill makes it easier, not harder, to start and run a small business in South Africa.”
The DA agrees that excessive red tape is holding back entrepreneurs and costing South Africa jobs. Small and medium enterprises remain the strongest drivers of growth and employment. Yet, the current draft of the Business Licensing Bill risks adding more permits, more queues and more bureaucracy for people simply trying to earn a living.
As it stands, the Bill duplicates existing regulatory processes and grants wide discretionary powers over who must be licensed, while placing additional administrative pressure on municipalities. This approach risks undermining the very small businesses the President says he wants to support.
The draft Bill assumes that South Africans trying to run their business must get yet another license, and that this will somehow make their lives easier. Where licenses are genuinely needed, these already exist, whether for food safety, fire compliance or workplace health standards. Adding another piece of paper and more hours standing in line to get it will hurt small business owners far more than it will help them.
The DA will engage constructively in the legislative process. However, our support for any final version of the Bill will depend on whether it significantly reduces red tape, removes duplication and genuinely makes it easier for entrepreneurs and informal traders to do business.
South Africa needs bold reform that cuts red tape and backs entrepreneurs. The DA will continue to fight for policies that create more jobs, not more permits.