SMMEs are especially heavily effected by ongoing power outages since many cannot afford alternate power sources such as generators. During load shedding, they are obliged to halt trade.
Some small enterprises thus turn to selling perishable commodities like meat and vegetables at low costs to prevent them from spoiling, which has an impact on their much-needed income.
This has led Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, the minister of small business development, to engage with her team to discover measures that might decrease the effect of load shedding on small enterprises. The Minister has instructed the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (sefa) to collaborate.
“Our aim is to find immediate solutions that can be urgently effected to avoid disastrous consequences, such as closure of small businesses and job losses in the SMME sector. This sector is still recovering from the ruinous effects of COVID-19. We cannot afford losing more businesses and jobs,” Ndabeni-Abrahams said on Tuesday.
The details of the package, the criteria and avenues for the application for the relief will be announced soon.