The country’s BEE legislation as well as its broad-based economic empowerment strategy will be reviewed to ensure that the intended beneficiaries are not left out of the country’s economy, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“There needs to be demonstrable linkages between our policies and tangible economic transformation,” he said on Friday during a gala dinner celebrating black business lobby group, the Black Management Forum’s 45 years of existence.
He added, however, that the government would continue to defend the empowerment programmes which are mandated by the constitution.
Without mentioning specifics, Ramaphosa said the country’s preferential empowerment and procurement policies had been used by “some” to be responsible for the rampant “corruption, thieving, bribery and looting” in the country.
The empowerment policies must not be used to facilitate corruption, he said, adding that those responsible for corruption “must face the full might of the law, whether local black business people or large multinationals, whether government officials or their co-conspirators in the private sector”.
Ramaphosa’s comments follow a recent court challenge by trade union Solidarity and lobby group Afriforum against the disbursement of the tourism ministry’s R2.2bn tourism equity fund to businesses which had 51% black ownership and management.
The government intends to defend the implementation of the scheme which was interdicted by the Pretoria High Court in April, leaving thousands of applicants in the tourism industry in limbo.
Ramaphosa on Friday labelled the court challenge as an attack on the government’s transformation drive by those who “would rather retain the current status quo”.
“It is those who have benefitted the most and who have enjoyed enormous privileges from apartheid that feel most threatened and want to see those privileges continue,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the economic devastation brought by the Covid-19 pandemic presents an opportunity for the country to create an economy which is transformed and inclusive. As the economy recovers, Ramaphosa said more black businesses should be supported to allow for the post Covid-19 economy to be “fundamentally different”.
As part of SA’s global campaign for the waiver on the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) on Covid-19 vaccines at next week’s G7 and G20 meetings, Ramaphosa said he would also push for the vaccines to be manufactured in the country by local manufactures in order to boost the manufacturing sector.
Should the Trips waiver campaign be successful, countries in the global south, including SA which have been negatively affected by the lack of supply of vaccines will be able to produce their own Covid-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
The success of the waiver will also ensure that black-owned and run pharmaceutical companies in the country are able to pivot to vaccine manufacturing, Ramaphosa said. The country has already received commitment from both Germany and France to provide support for this venture, including financing technical expertise, skills training and know-how regarding vaccine manufacturing.
“The world is now living in a space where pandemic are possibly going to be the order of the day so vaccine manufacturing therefore needs to be rooted in the African continent,” he said.
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