File Photo: A fighter jet flies past on Heritage day bearing the South African flag painted on its under-carriage. File Photo: A fighter jet flies past on Heritage day bearing the South African flag painted on its under-carriage.
In a first for the country, the KwaZulu-Natal government is to embark on an aggressive drive to implement broad-based black economic empowerment by ensuring at least 50 percent of all goods and services bought by all departments in the province are locally produced and supplied by BBBEE-compliant suppliers.
Statistics showed that of the R8.6 billion set aside by the provincial government as procurement spending during the 2009/10 financial year, only R740 million was spent on BBBEE-compliant suppliers, said Bheko Madlala, spokesman for Economic Development MEC Michael Mabuyakhulu, who is launching the initiative on Tuesday with Proudly SA chief executive Leslie Sedibe.
Madlala said the project was aimed at accelerating implementation of BBBEE while ensuring locally produced products were bought by the government.
The procurement target set for the next 10 years is that 70 percent of all goods and services paid for by the KZN government should be locally produced.
The move was aimed at boosting the local economy and creating jobs, said Madlala. Durban Chamber of Commerce CEO Andrew Layman welcomed the initiative. – Mercury Reporter