Who is not truthful? Discrepancies between SMMEs and their support programmes in responding to the same question

The small, micro, and medium enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa were found to be failing at exceedingly high rates. Some government support programmes were established in certain institutions of government to improve the SMME situation. Discrepancies seemed to show that while support programmes offered aid to the SMMEs, SMMEs showed no significant improvement. The support structures claimed that their aid was effective, and the SMMEs were saying they were not being enhanced. The aim of this paper was to analyze and understand the reasons behind any differences in responses or actions between SMMEs and the support programmes meant to aid them. A qualitative study was conducted, where both parties were interviewed, and their results compared. The study showed that the support programmes were not empowered to extend their services beyond offering aid, so they could not even monitor and evaluate their programmes’ effectiveness. When they said they were effective, it meant up to their scope. On the other hand, SMMEs expected the support institutions to visit and support them. Hence, the problem was mainly a misunderstanding. For the success of the support programmes, however, the study recommended that policies of the support structures should be extended, and activities extended to satisfy the SMMEs.