Latest news with #FFPlus
IOL News
28-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Corné Mulder criticises BEE laws amid Trump-Ramaphosa meeting controversy
FF Plus leader Corné Mulder is suggesting that BEE laws be scrapped. Image: Jacoline Prinsloo / File Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) leader Corné Mulder has come under scrutiny for his recent attacks on Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws in Parliament. Some speculate his actions are motivated by bitterness over not being invited to the White House meeting. However, Mulder dismissed these claims, stating he would have declined the invitation even if offered. Mulder's suggestions to scrap BEE and Affirmative Action laws in Parliament on Tuesday have left President Cyril Ramaphosa offended. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Mulder's criticism of BEE laws is not new. As the leader of the FF Plus, a partner in South Africa's 10-party broad coalition government, he has long been a vocal opponent of policies aimed at promoting economic transformation and redress. In a recent parliamentary session, Mulder asked Ramaphosa whether he was prepared to develop an economic policy that would scrap BEE laws, employment equity, affirmative action, and the Expropriation Act. Ramaphosa's response to Mulder's question was scathing. He expressed surprise that anyone would think BEE laws were holding back the economy, pointing out that the country's economic growth had been hindered by racist policies of the past. "Why can't black people be made to own the productive aspects of work? Why can't they be rich as well?" Ramaphosa asked, emphasising the need for broad-based economic participation. Ramaphosa also highlighted the progress made since democracy, noting that black people are now featured in advertisements for everyday products, reflecting their growing importance as consumers and active economic players. "With democracy, what has now been happening and what we seek to see happening is the opening up of the economy; the broadening up of economic participation," Ramaphosa said. Sources suggest Mulder was bitter after being snubbed from the meeting between Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump in Washington last week, where the bone of contention was a purported 'white genocide' that allegedly took place in South Africa. Mulder was not invited and instead, Ramaphosa took with him Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, billionaire businessman Johann Rupert, and golfers Ernie Els and Ratief Goosen, believed to be the representatives of Afrikaners in the meeting. Mulder has been vocal about his disapproval of the Trump-Ramaphosa meeting, describing it as a "catastrophe" inflicted on South Africans. He believes the SA delegation had no answers to Trump's "right questions" due to wilful ignorance or outright denial. "The international narrative now is that the president was ambushed. You cannot be ambushed if you have the facts on your side." Mulder said if he had attended the meeting, he would have said the opposite of what the SA delegation conveyed. "The truth of the matter is that I was not invited to that meeting… I would have declined if I had been invited. But if I had gone, I would have said the exact opposite to make sure that Trump understands the real problems that South Africa has," Mulder said.
SowetanLIVE
28-05-2025
- Business
- SowetanLIVE
Ramaphosa offended by GNU partner Mulder's suggestion to scrap BEE laws
President Cyril Ramaphosa did not take kindly to a suggestion by GNU partner and FF Plus leader Cornè Mulder that the country should rethink its racial redress legislation, which in his view hindered economic growth. In an oral question to the president, Mulder said the policies raised by Ramaphosa pertained to Operation Vulindlela, which he claimed would not see the light of day if the country did not abandon race-based reforms. 'We need to amend or develop a new economic policy that can make possible real growth. If we do not have economic growth, none of the programmes will be implemented nor will they be successful. The new policy needs to take a different approach regarding black economic empowerment, employment equity and expropriation without compensation,' Mulder said. Ramaphosa was startled by the assertion and gave Mulder a history lesson on the ownership of the economy during apartheid and why legislation such as BEE was necessary. 'I'm rather surprised and taken aback when I hear that policies of BEE militate against the growth of our economy. That I find quite surprising. I work from a starting point that our economy was held back over many years by the racist policies of the past. 'Those racist policies prevented a majority of South Africans to play a meaningful role in their own economy. Black people were brought in as hewers of wood and drawers of water, as labourers. They were not even seen as consumers or active players in the economic landscape of our country.' He said democracy saved the day, opening up the economy and broadening participation. 'It is right in your face. During apartheid South Africa, you'd never see a black personality being made to advertise soap or milk or anything. Today every advert you look at has got black people. This is because it has now been realised that it is black people who are the consumers and are economic players.' Those who would want black people just to play the consumer role are truly mistaken, Ramaphosa said, adding that black people must play a productive role as well.
The Herald
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald
Ramaphosa offended by GNU partner Mulder's suggestion to scrap BEE laws
President Cyril Ramaphosa did not take kindly to a suggestion by GNU partner and FF Plus leader Cornè Mulder that the country should rethink its racial redress legislation, which in his view hindered economic growth. In an oral question to the president, Mulder said the policies raised by Ramaphosa pertained to Operation Vulindlela, which he claimed would not see the light of day if the country did not abandon race-based reforms. 'We need to amend or develop a new economic policy that can make possible real growth. If we do not have economic growth, none of the programmes will be implemented nor will they be successful. The new policy needs to take a different approach regarding black economic empowerment, employment equity and expropriation without compensation,' Mulder said. Ramaphosa was startled by the assertion and gave Mulder a history lesson on the ownership of the economy during apartheid and why legislation such as BEE was necessary. 'I'm rather surprised and taken aback when I hear that policies of BEE militate against the growth of our economy. That I find quite surprising. I work from a starting point that our economy was held back over many years by the racist policies of the past. 'Those racist policies prevented a majority of South Africans to play a meaningful role in their own economy. Black people were brought in as hewers of wood and drawers of water, as labourers. They were not even seen as consumers or active players in the economic landscape of our country.' He said democracy saved the day, opening up the economy and broadening participation. 'It is right in your face. During apartheid South Africa, you'd never see a black personality being made to advertise soap or milk or anything. Today every advert you look at has got black people. This is because it has now been realised that it is black people who are the consumers and are economic players.' Those who would want black people just to play the consumer role are truly mistaken, Ramaphosa said, adding that black people must play a productive role as well. 'I am really baffled by people who still hanker for policies of the past and to have you, sir, say that BEE is holding our economy back goes completely against even what the World Bank says. What is known clearly is that there was a report that detailed that what holds South Africa back is the level of concentration. 'They said what holds South Africa back is the fact that the ownership of the economy is in far too few hands and has not spread, that is what the World Bank and IMF said. In our country it is the privileged white people who intimidated to own the means of production. I find it very worrying that we continue to have this notion that BEE is holding us back.' Ramaphosa said the constitution's equality clause implores the government to redress the imbalances in the country, including the ownership of the economy. 'There is nothing that gives our people joy, as they go around and find that this production facility is owned by a black person, it warms one's heart, it makes us feel so good because we come from a horrible past where that was not allowed by law.' The president detailed that the Medium-Term Development Plan 2024—2029 (MTDP) in its current form will foster economic development, with an apex priority to achieve inclusive growth and job creation as the key focus. ' To achieve higher levels of economic growth, we are in many ways undertaking massive investment in infrastructure and upgrading our maintenance activities. In the budget speech finance minister Enoch Godongwana confirmed that public infrastructure spending in the next three years will amount to R1-trillion. Allocations towards capital investment remain the fastest-growing area of spending, ensuring that we use our resources to foster and support growth. He said the investment on infrastructure will be complemented by the reforms that government has embarked upon and the regulatory framework to enable public private partnerships. 'A further pillar of our economic strategy is to support sectors with high potential for growth and job creation. This includes growing our key export sectors like mining and agriculture, while developing new industries such as renewable energy, where we continue to distinguish ourselves, electric vehicles and green hydrogen in harnessing our unique advantages in the green economy. 'We are strengthening the capacity of the state, which is our key pillar of the MTDP, including turning around the financial and operational performance of state institutions including delivery at local government level.'
Daily Maverick
27-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
It's not BEE holding SA economy back, it's exclusive ownership, says Ramaphosa
In defence of BEE, President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa's redress policies aren't the issue stifling economic growth. 'Why can't black people be made to own productive aspects of work? Why can't they be rich as well?' President Cyril Ramaphosa asked MPs in the House on Tuesday. They were questions posed by the President in a lengthy response to a question from Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) leader and MP Dr Corné Mulder, who asked, during a Q&A session in Parliament, whether Ramaphosa was prepared to develop an economic policy 'that can make possible, real economic growth' in South Africa. This 'real, new economic policy', as far as Mulder was concerned, needs to take a different approach with regard to 'certain basic things' that he suggested Ramaphosa wasn't prepared to do. Mulder said these 'certain basic things' related to black economic empowerment (BEE), employment equity, affirmative action and the Expropriation Act. (The FF Plus, a partner in SA's 10-party broad coalition government, is strongly opposed to the aforementioned policies.) 'Are you prepared to do that?' Mulder asked Ramaphosa. The President delivered nothing short of a sharp klap in response, saying at several points in his speech that he was 'baffled by people who still hanker [for] policies of the past. 'I'm rather surprised and taken aback when I hear that policies of black economic empowerment militate against the growth of our economy. That I find quite surprising, because I work from the starting point that our economy was held back over many years by the racist policies of the past. Those racist policies prevented all South Africans — or the majority of South Africans — [from playing] a meaningful role in the economy of their own country. 'Black people were brought in [as] hewers of wood and drawers of water. They were brought in as labourers, they were not even seen as consumers. They were not seen as active players in the economic landscape of our country. 'With democracy, what has now been happening and what we seek to see happening is the opening up of the economy; the broadening up of economic participation, which if you observe, Honourable Dr Mulder, you will actually see, and it's right in your face,' said Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa's response was delivered with a particular intensity, possibly as a result of the current spotlight on South Africa's employment equity policies on the back of a new policy directive issued by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, which is looking at relaxing the regulations around BEE ownership for satellite internet service providers. The move is seen as potentially paving the way for Starlink, the satellite internet company owned by the tech billionaire and de facto head of the US Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, to operate in SA without ceding ownership. Race-based redress in its various forms in SA has been the subject of attacks from Musk and US President Donald Trump for months. Ramaphosa's statements also follow the DA's challenge to Section 15A of the Employment Equity Amendment Act heard in the Gauteng Division of the High Court earlier this month. Despite years of empowerment policies, deeply entrenched structural inequalities remain stubbornly resistant, which critics have pointed to as signs that the policies have failed to address the challenge of redress, Daily Maverick has reported. Critics claim BEE has enabled corruption and State Capture, with the DA's Helen Zille equating redress with State Capture. Ramaphosa said the Government of National Unity would spend 'a considerable amount of hours' in the days to come discussing the economic strategy and trajectory that South Africa should pursue. He continued: 'Our ambition, Honourable Dr Mulder, is to make sure that our economy grows [more] than what the projections are currently. 'Our objective is to spread economic participation broadly, and I will hold on to the argument that the more we have previously disadvantaged people playing a role in the economy of their own country, the better it is.' 'Concentration of ownership' Ramaphosa referred to reports by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which, he said, found that among the factors restricting South Africa's economic growth was the level of market and capital ownership concentration. 'Concentration because, they said, the ownership of the economy is in far too few hands — ownership has not spread. 'Now, I find it very worrying that we continue to have this notion that BEE is the one that's holding our economy back. It is the partial and exclusive ownership of the means of production in our country that is holding this economy [back] from growing,' said Ramaphosa. 'If we accept that the ownership of our economy is imbalanced, the clause on equality in our Constitution seeks to undo that; to redress that. So, therefore, ownership of our economy should be broadened. 'And I can tell you, Dr Mulder, there's nothing that gives our people [as much] joy — particularly black people — as they go around and they find that this production facility's owned by a black person. It warms one's heart, it makes us feel so good. Because we've come from a horrible past where that was not allowed by law,' he said. Ramaphosa added that in apartheid South Africa, one would never see black people featured in advertisements for everyday products such as milk or soap. And yet, today, black people appear in almost every advertisement for a South African product — a reflection of the growing realisation that they are key consumers and active economic players, according to Ramaphosa. 'Now, those that would want black people just to play the consumer role are truly mistaken. Black people must play a productive role as well,' he told the House. 'We must allow more and more people to play an important role in the economy of our country. And this is what baffles me by those who are opposed to black economic empowerment. I say, what do you want to see happening — do you want to see black people continuing to play the role of labourers, drawers of water, hewers of wood and consumers only? Why can't black people be made to own productive aspects of work? Why can't they be rich as well? 'Dr Mulder, you look at the Afrikaners, the history of your people. If you look at the history of your people, they were held back by the English and, with [the] latter days, they were enabled; they became more and more economically empowered… Why can't the same be done for black people?' DM
TimesLIVE
27-05-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Ramaphosa offended by GNU partner Mulder's suggestion to scrap BEE laws
President Cyril Ramaphosa did not take kindly to a suggestion by GNU partner and FF Plus leader Cornè Mulder that the country should rethink its racial redress legislation, which in his view hindered economic growth. In an oral question to the president, Mulder said the policies raised by Ramaphosa pertained to Operation Vulindlela, which he claimed would not see the light of day if the country did not abandon race-based reforms. 'We need to amend or develop a new economic policy that can make possible real growth. If we do not have economic growth, none of the programmes will be implemented nor will they be successful. The new policy needs to take a different approach regarding black economic empowerment, employment equity and expropriation without compensation,' Mulder said. Ramaphosa was startled by the assertion and gave Mulder a history lesson on the ownership of the economy during apartheid and why legislation such as BEE was necessary. 'I'm rather surprised and taken aback when I hear that policies of BEE militate against the growth of our economy. That I find quite surprising. I work from a starting point that our economy was held back over many years by the racist policies of the past. 'Those racist policies prevented a majority of South Africans to play a meaningful role in their own economy. Black people were brought in as hewers of wood and drawers of water, as labourers. They were not even seen as consumers or active players in the economic landscape of our country.' He said democracy saved the day, opening up the economy and broadening participation. 'It is right in your face. During apartheid South Africa, you'd never see a black personality being made to advertise soap or milk or anything. Today every advert you look at has got black people. This is because it has now been realised that it is black people who are the consumers and are economic players.' Those who would want black people just to play the consumer role are truly mistaken, Ramaphosa said, adding that black people must play a productive role as well. 'I am really baffled by people who still hanker for policies of the past and to have you, sir, say that BEE is holding our economy back goes completely against even what the World Bank says. What is known clearly is that there was a report that detailed that what holds South Africa back is the level of concentration. 'They said what holds South Africa back is the fact that the ownership of the economy is in far too few hands and has not spread, that is what the World Bank and IMF said. In our country it is the privileged white people who intimidated to own the means of production. I find it very worrying that we continue to have this notion that BEE is holding us back.' Ramaphosa said the constitution's equality clause implores the government to redress the imbalances in the country, including the ownership of the economy. 'There is nothing that gives our people joy, as they go around and find that this production facility is owned by a black person, it warms one's heart, it makes us feel so good because we come from a horrible past where that was not allowed by law.' The president detailed that the Medium-Term Development Plan 2024—2029 (MTDP) in its current form will foster economic development, with an apex priority to achieve inclusive growth and job creation as the key focus. ' To achieve higher levels of economic growth, we are in many ways undertaking massive investment in infrastructure and upgrading our maintenance activities. In the budget speech finance minister Enoch Godongwana confirmed that public infrastructure spending in the next three years will amount to R1-trillion. Allocations towards capital investment remain the fastest-growing area of spending, ensuring that we use our resources to foster and support growth. He said the investment on infrastructure will be complemented by the reforms that government has embarked upon and the regulatory framework to enable public private partnerships. 'A further pillar of our economic strategy is to support sectors with high potential for growth and job creation. This includes growing our key export sectors like mining and agriculture, while developing new industries such as renewable energy, where we continue to distinguish ourselves, electric vehicles and green hydrogen in harnessing our unique advantages in the green economy. 'We are strengthening the capacity of the state, which is our key pillar of the MTDP, including turning around the financial and operational performance of state institutions including delivery at local government level.'
