Black Business Council (BBC) president Sandile Zungu says black economic empowerment (BEE) cannot simply be wished away as it is necessary for creating a more orderly and peaceful society.
His remarks come amid growing criticism of BEE. The country’s official opposition party, the DA, rejected race as a way to categorise people at its recent policy conference, arguing that BEE is being used to enrich only a few of the politically connected elite at the cost of job creation. The party says its new approach ensures that the beneficiaries of economic transformation initiatives are not confined to politically connected people of one race.
Speaking during a webinar to discuss to the role of BEE in turning around the economy after Covid-19, Zungu, who is also a member of the presidential advisory council on BEE, said the participation of black people in the economy in terms of ownership is “pathetic” and in terms of management of the economy “equally unsatisfactory”.
“So there is a need to use orderly and legal ways to steam the train in the right direction. We cannot wish away empowerment [and remain a] peaceful society,” Zungu said during the webinar hosted by Covid Business Rescue Assistance, an initiative aimed at helping vulnerable businesses in an effort to help curb economic decline and unemployment.
Quizzed by the host, Maurice Crespi of Schindlers Attorneys, whether the government has had more than enough time to deal with economic inequalities, Zungu said 30 years is not enough to correct the wrongs of the past.
“There are a lot of things that have gone wrong in this economy over the last 30 years that we can justifiably be up in arms about, but the one of economic redress over 30 years is just too short a period of time. Even the land question has not been satisfactorily resolved,” he said.
“Everything must be done orderly, but to actually expect that 30 years of a black president then [inequalities should have been resolved] is unfair ... anyone of integrity and honesty will know that argument will never pass.
“I do appreciate that sometimes you are not even able to make progress because your BEE certificate is not up to date. Sometimes you lose opportunities to do business even when you know you can do a much better job simply because your BEE certificate is not up to date,” Zungu said.
He said his view is simple — black people were prevented from playing a part in business 30 years ago, not because they were not offered access to capital, but because they were prevented by law.
“Less than 50 years ago, black people were prevented from becoming members of pension funds which therefore meant they could not save for post-retirement [and it meant] they would become perpetual beggars, and hence you have things like black tax where people who are working have to look after the elderly because they were not allowed to save.
“So the need to have economic redress is very fundamental to our democratic order and we cannot leave that to chance.”
Responding to another question about BEE coming at the expense of meritocracy, Zungu said the two can coexist. “BEE and meritocracy can exist alongside each other ... the biggest enemy is not BEE, but people being employed in positions where they do not belong.
“We need to abandon corrosive practices which take our country backwards. I do not agree that corrosive tendencies are inherent in BEE. They will happen even without BEE. BEE needs to be supported, it needs to be tweaked where there are issues,” Zungu said.
The private sector had a key role to play in driving SA’s recovery after Covid-19, he said.
“We have to start accepting that there is a big role that the private sector will play. The private sector has demonstrated its willingness to deploy some of its people. It is only when private sector works closely with the state that things get resolved and implementation challenges are addressed.”
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