With elections around the corner, the discussions on social media took a different angle this week when entrepreneur and small business advocate, Marnus Broodryk, posted a video and questioned the claims being made by South Africa’s main political parties, specifically around the creation of jobs.
In the video, Broodryk drives past several election posters, all of which are promising voters the creation of jobs. He questions this claim by asking where all these jobs will be coming from and making the argument that it won’t be from corporates or government, but that it can only really come from small businesses.
“I want to ask all South Africans, support whoever you want to on the 8th of May, but every single day thereafter please support small businesses, because they are the only guys who can really make a change in this country, who can really grow the economy and who can create real jobs.”
Since the video was posted it has been viewed more than 500,000 times in a couple of days and sparked a new debate on social media. Broodryk responded saying “I’m really not surprised, it’s a relevant topic and I think South Africans and especially small business owners can identify with it.”
What the politicians had to say
Both the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Capitalist Party of South Africa (ZACP) officially responded to the video. The DA said, “Small businesses are the engine of job creation in South Africa, and we will put them at the forefront of our economic agenda for change by implementing a six-point plan on Small Business Development”.
The co-founder of the ZACP, Roman Cabanac, agrees and also approached Broodryk to offer proposals to the ZACP in order to cultivate entrepreneurship in South Africa that they can present to Parliament after the elections. “I watch and read Marnus’ content extensively and feel that he is very well placed and we will be very happy to work with him.”
“There is no doubt that a Government with sound economic policies can stimulate an economy and attract foreign investment, which will help small businesses and create more jobs” said Broodryk “If we can get that, this economy will blow up, but failing it (like we’ve become accustomed to), small businesses will continue to drive our growth and they deserve all the support that they can get” he continued.
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