South Africa Needs a New Kind of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment

opinion

Given the just-concluded Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE ) Summit, it is a good time to take a critical look at this flag-bearer of government's approach to post-apartheid racial and economic 'transformation'. It is not a flattering picture.

To start with, the entire edifice of BBBEE is based on the notion of 'transformation' being realised through the gradual expansion of private involvement and ownership of business (whether that is through share schemes, deal swops, joint ventures, partial buy-outs, setting up of individual small businesses etc.). By necessity then, this approach can never result in broad-based empowerment precisely because those that 'qualify' or who have the requisite connections to get in the door are a small minority of blacks.

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