Ramaphosa defends BEE as vital for inclusive economic growth
President Cyril Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa has again defended black economic empowerment, saying the
In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa said South Africa should 'pursue growth and transformation in concert' and must 'dispense with the false notion that we must make a choice between growth and transformation'.
Economic growth without transformation would entrench exclusion, while transformation without growth was unsustainable, he warned.
The remarks follow mounting opposition to broad-based black economic empowerment (broad-based BEE) and the Employment Equity Act, including from political parties such as the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus, which are part of Ramaphosa's government of national unity.
In May, Freedom Front Plus urged Ramaphosa to dispose of BEE laws and commit to investor friendly policies after he led a delegation to the United States to try to mend damaged relations over what President Donald Trump says are South African laws that discriminate against whites.
The DA is challenging the
Malatsi rejected suggestions that the regulations were aimed at paving the way for Elon Musk's Starlink to operate in South Africa, as critics have suggested. Starlink has failed to get an operating licence because South African-born Musk refused to meet broad-based BEE ownership requirements.
South Africa's drive for transformation stands in contrast to the US's rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion measures, which puts at risk global policy coherence ahead of the G20 presidency handover between the two countries later this year.
Although it has been widely criticised for only benefiting the politically-connected and being riddled with corruption, Ramaphosa praised broad-based BEE for creating black industrialists and changing management control and patterns of ownership in companies.
'The progress we have made is undeniable. We have seen real changes in ownership patterns, including more businesses owned by women. We have seen changes in management control, enterprise development and skills development,' he wrote in the newsletter.
He noted that, according to Statistics South Africa, from 2006 to 2023, black African households experienced real income growth of 46%, coloured households of 29% and Indian households of 19%.
'Despite this progress, the average income of white households is still nearly five times higher than that of black African households. This is the gulf we must close through deliberate and sustained efforts to expand opportunity,' Ramaphosa added.
He highlighted the 'poly-crisis' of global conflict, economic stagnation, mistrust in institutions and climate change as the challenge to government efficiency.
The Institute of Race Relations has criticised broad-based BEE, arguing instead for '
Ramaphosa said transformation would continue as a guiding principle for the government's infrastructure programmes, new industries in the green transition, localisation efforts and reindustrialisation.
'The transformation we seek is not about ticking boxes. It is about building a resilient, just economy for generations to come,' he wrote in the newsletter.
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