Joel Netshitenzhe, who held key communication and policy roles in the governments of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, has launched a spirited defence of black economic empowerment (BEE), urging critics to contend with the emergence of a black capitalist class — no matter how uncomfortable that may be.
Netshitenzhe, executive director of think-tank Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra), was addressing the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Commission’s strategy session on Thursday.
He said economic empowerment laws were under siege, with the commission singled out as “accused number one” by those opposed to the policy.
“It is also illogical to expect BEE to have resolved the challenge of slow rates of employment creation. Worse still, BEE, as such, cannot be expected to resolve problems of water and other infrastructure, potholes, grass-cutting and public safety,” Netshitenzhe said.
“This then brings to the fore a frank discussion that some find uncomfortable. And this is that postcolonial class formation has to include, as a core element, the emergence — or creation — of a cohort of black capitalists, the so-called black capitalist class.”
“Otherwise, we cannot hope to have a stable capitalist system in which blacks are the country’s numerical majority and yet a tiny minority among the capitalist and elite social strata. Equitable representation across the hierarchy of the economy is an economic and political imperative.”
Netshitenzhe’s remarks come amid a raging and renewed national debate on the effectiveness of BEE and other race-based laws.
The national debate has seen the CEOs of some of SA’s blue-chip companies, such as Standard Bank and Investec, weigh in on the debate.
The DA is seeking to do away with the Broad-Based BEE Act, as well as free public tenders from “race-based procurement”, a move that is likely to pit it against its key partner in the government of national unity, the ANC, which has championed affirmative action to redress past injustices.
The party, the country’s second biggest, has said BBBEE has proven to be an ineffective method of promoting economic inclusion, as it is rooted in the idea of “trickle-down redress”, where corporates are used to transfer assets, positions and contracts from one elite person to another to promote economic inclusion.
One of the biggest criticisms of BEE is it has benefited the privileged few with links to the ANC, to the exclusion of the majority of black people it purports to drive into the mainstream economy.
Netshitenzhe said there had been progress in getting more black people into management positions and that several firms had been implementing employee share-ownership programmes, among other examples. He argued that this could not have been done without equity laws and scorecards.
“Undergirded by international white supremacist alliances, the battle to designate postcolonial SA as the DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] incarnate should be expected to intensify,” Netshitenzhe said.
“But for those who question the contrived cost of black economic empowerment, it may be useful to weigh the cost of not having it. Besides betraying the constitutional imperative, failure to implement corrective action – and do it in a proper manner – would delegitimise the democratic polity and entire social system.”
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