Neil Emerick is quite right to add dignity to the debate about BEE — whether that acronym stands for black economic empowerment or black elite enrichment (“Adding dignity to the redress vs growth debate”, March 2).
Dignity is, after all, a guaranteed human right that the state is obliged to respect, protect, promote and fulfil according to section 7(2) of the bill of rights. Its equality clause includes the magic words, applicable to everyone: “Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms” before it launches into the legislated promotion of measures “designed to protect or advance persons or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination”. Go tell that to the rural population still waiting for its economically energising Starlink connection.
More than three decades into constitutional democracy under the rule of law, any currently suffered disadvantage is more likely to be attributable to ineptitude, mismanagement, corruption and inefficiency in governance since 1994 than to unfair discrimination before 1994. This is because the equality clause in the bill of rights expressly outlaws unfair discrimination by requiring that “legislation must be enacted to prevent or prohibit unfair discrimination”.
Had the basic education system in South Africa been appropriately reformed after 1994 instead of being allowed to go to wrack and ruin; had the economy been managed in a manner appropriate for fostering its growth; and had the fair redistribution of land been treated as a priority, not a Cinderella project, there would have been no need for further redress measures years ago.
The ongoing enrichment of the black elite, that merry little band of those who are politically well-connected, can hardly be called the promotion of the achievement of equality, the true purpose of affirmative action measures as spelt out in the constitution. As the years go by, attributing present disadvantage to the unfair discrimination of the past becomes an increasingly tenuous proposition.
Paul Hoffman
Accountability Now
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businessday.co.za. Letters of more than 200 words may be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.