ENTREPRENEURSHIP
CWP 3 - INFORMAL ECONOMY AND
Discussion leaders Hon. Joanmariae Fubbs. MP, (left) and Hon. Alix Boyd Knights, MHA (right).
unrecorded and difficult to measure, but it’s estimated that it forms around 28 per cent of the GDP of South Africa. Therefore the size of the informal economy, including informal traders, is estimated to be about ZAR 160 billion, making it two and a half times higher than the contribution of agriculture, and 70 per cent contribution of the mining sector. According to the Department of Trade and Industry estimates, there are more than four million unregistered businesses in the country.
Ms Fubbs stated that women are the most significant and biggest percentage of this economy, given they have more rights and
responsibilities than men in the economy because of a triple recession. She said it is not about discrimination, but about running the household, looking after children and trying to earn a living. The informal sector permeates the formal sector as it’s easy to enter. Ms Fubbs underlined the importance of training, up-skilling, marketing, and access to easy credit that doesn’t cost a lot of money or have high interest rates. The World Bank stated that women are the most reliable lenders and do pay back on their loans. She said Parliament has a constitutional right to intervene, to pass legislation, oversee government action and facilitate public involvement and governance.
She spoke about the spirit called Batho Pele in South Africa, that reflects the parliamentary participation and is the raison d’être for having this engagement and knowing that Parliament has a significant role to play. The eight Batho Pele principles which inform our parliamentary oversight are: consultation, setting service standards; increasing access; ensuring courtesy; openness and transparency; providing information; redress; and value for money. Parliament can exercise oversight, such as holding colloquiums. She added there were oversight visits, MPs physically go on location to see if the department has done what they said they were going to
do. She concluded that by sharing and communicating experiences with fellow Parliamentarians, greater progress can be made.
Defining the terms Hon. Alix Boyd Knights, MHA, Dominica, explained there were many different definitions of the phrase informal economy. The UK Women’s National Commission defines it as “services provided mainly by women on an informal or flexible basis, with payment in cash or kind”. However, when the International Labour Organization (ILO) first carried out research in the 1970s on the informal sector, it was in reference to economic activities
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