BEE is to right the wrongs of the past, it's the right thing to do, wealth needs to be redistributed from the 5% who have etc. We've all heard these justifications from numerous commentators and agitators.
I have a different perspective. I don't view BEE as being so much about righting the wrongs of the past, I see it as investing in the future of South Africa. The righting the wrongs argument inevitably leads to people justifying their behaviour with "they did it to us, now it's their turn". There are two examples of apartheid's legacy that have become very relevant to me
- The matric results
The Sunday Independent carried an article on Verwoerd's Bantu education policy and its legacy. The author, Graeme Bloch, argues that Verwoerd's policy of not teaching black people maths if they were never going to use it is still being felt today. This policy when coupled with job reservation effectively only allowed the black middle class to become nurses and teachers (I am summarising this article that IOL has deemed premier so I can't post a hyperlink on this post). The result is that teachers were ill-equipped to teach maths and this problem continues. Bloch suggests that it will take another generation to fix.
- Bantustan policy
Last year I worked on a proposed PPP in Mt Ayliffe. Mt Ayliffe is a desolate and forgotten place in the Eastern Cape. It falls under the Alfred Nzo municipality which is one of the ISDP nodes (in other words - where the poorest of the poor live). My job was to conduct a socio-economic study and determine the best BEE scorecard for the PPP. The study was showed an area that has yet to recover from the Bantustan policy. Mt Ayliffe was a labour resourcing area for South Africa, men were migrant labourers and the women and children stayed behind and fended for themselves. Nothing has changed. The economically active population is still made up of women who live under the most challenging conditions. Education is a luxury that that few can afford because the HIV-infection rate (about 30%) has forced younger people to stay home and support the family. There is little formal employment and almost no basic infrastructure. We concluded that whilst this PPP would have a positive effect on the community it was nowhere near enough.
The upshot in both of these circumstances is that both the matric failures and those who live in areas like Mt Ayliffe are left with few choices and prospects. They could become dependents of the state or resort to crime - either way it places a greater burden on the tax payer. And this South Africa can ill afford.
No one likes to be told to do something because it's the right thing to do. People like to know what they will get in the short term. The BEE message is not about that - the question is that can we as South African's afford not to do it. I am hoping that when the BEE advisory council meets they look at things like SED, enterprise development and smarter ways to create sustainable economic activity in those decimated rural areas.
I have posted an old document on the ISRDP and URP nodes - they featured in an earlier version of the codes. They were removed in the final version.
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