Marcia Klein wrote a paragraph on so called Broad-based BEE deals called "Broad-based my foot", in today's Sunday Times (30 July, 2006 - page 24 of the Business Times). She suggests the time has come to take a cynical approach to these BEE deals that extend ownership to a larger section of the population in the name of "broad-based BEE". The reality is that it's still the same old same olds who are really benefiting. This doesn't come as a surprise at all, these same olds have cash and clout and are very attractive to business owners concluding the deals.
It is sometimes interesting to figure out exactly what these broad-based beneficiaries stand to get out of the deal. A recent deal revealed that in ten years time each of the smaller beneficiaries would get out something like R3000. This really is a joke and the sooner companies doing deals realise this the better.
Surely the money spent on the deals (sometimes in the billions) would be better used under enterprise development and corporate social investment.
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