IF THERE is a silver lining to the collapse of ArcelorMittal SA’s R9bn black economic empowerment (BEE) deal, it is that the Ayigobi Consortium’s failure to meet timelines gives the steel maker an opportunity to rethink its philosophical approach to empowerment.
And then they said
it was clear from the start that this was, for both parties, a deal that was concluded more for reasons of expedience than a genuine desire to empower previously disadvantaged South Africans. That may seem a little naive given the number of politically connected individuals who have been made obscenely rich by a government policy that was ostensibly intended to uplift the poor and disenfranchised, but it would be a grave error to abandon principle merely because the original noble intention of BEE has been abused.
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