William Gumede - ANC must spring-clean, nothing less.

Drop black economic empowerment as a policy and give companies BEE points for how much they invest in job creation, black education and housing; and for uplifting the physical and social infrastructure of townships and rural areas, and supporting the five-million entrepreneurs in the informal sector.

http://bit.ly/cAD4Gk

Comments

[Mark]

Paul, give me your opinion on this please.
I have at the back of my mind something an ANC veteran once said to me: "don't always focus on what the Govet and the ANC says, look also at what they do without saying anything."
I think the Govt have already turned their back on BBBEE for two reasons: the position they have allowed themselves to be manouevred into by business is impossible to continue; and the sheer scale of the problems BBBEE was supposed to address was underestimated in the first place and it has become apparent that empowerment cannot achieve what it must.
In the last few months the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, the Industrial Action Plan, and the Economic Development Medium Term strategy have all been released, all with the aim of creating jobs and giving birth to the green economy. In my view the objectives of BBBEE have now been included into these strategies making BBBEE largely redundant. Of course, no one will say that or even countenance the view, but it's what is happening that matters most, and Govt knows business has taken BBBEE as far as it wants, there is no energy beyond compliance, but SA needs more than this.
Having read each strategy, I am convinced that Govt has settled for a more focused goal - jobs - and believes when jobs happen, many of the other objectives of BBBEE will only then fall into place.