Latest news with #InstituteofRaceRelations
IOL News
18-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Exploring mixed reactions to the Freedom From Poverty Bill: A new approach to replacing BEE and employment equity
The Institute of Race Relations has introduced a new Bill that seeks to replace the Black Economic Empowerment and Employment Equity. Pictured is Minister of Employment and Labour, Nomakhosazana Meth. Image: GCIS The Freedom From Poverty Bill, introduced by the Institution of Race Relations (IRR) as a replacement for the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and the Employment Equity Act (EEA), has been met with mixed views. Under the bill, there is Economic Empowerment for the Disadvantaged (EED), which is codified as an alternative to BEE and a proposal for true transformation, as it will be based on need, not race. It was launched this week as part of the #WhatSACanBe campaign in a webinar discussion between IRR Head of Policy, Dr Anthea Jeffery, and IRR Strategic Engagements Manager, Makone Maja. The BEE aims to correct past inequalities and is governed by the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act. Its application is limited to people who are black, of mixed race, and Indian, and excludes white people, including those with disabilities. 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. 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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. Next Stay Close ✕ Explaining the difference between the two policies, Jeffery said the BEE uses race as a proxy for disadvantage, EED targets the poor, and identifies disadvantage based on a means test. 'This would enable poor whites to benefit too, but 99% of its benefits would in practice go to poor black people. Its non-racial focus would reduce racial divisions, put an end to race classification, and comply with the Constitution's founding value of non-racialism. 'The EED is voluntary, which means companies would no longer be required to keep the current BEE scorecard to aid them in state procurement contracts, or race-based ownership deals, management posts, and procurement contracts. EED's scorecard incentivises companies for their key contributions to the economy by rewarding them with EED points for these actions. With EED, the points cannot be redeemed to gain from preferential procurement,' Jeffery said. She added that EED introduces education and health voucher-based support for poor people to be used at schools or health facilities of their choice. This, she said, will redirect much of the revenue now spent on dysfunctional schools, hospitals, and housing developments into tax-funded vouchers for low-income families. The bill states that a system of tax-funded vouchers must be created and administered by provincial administrations, with the help of public-private partnerships where necessary, and it will go hand in hand with social grants. An emphasis was made that this will not take away social grants. 'In the instance of schools, the voucher will go with the child to the school of the family's choice. The vouchers will fund teachers' salaries, study materials, maintaining the school grounds, and more. Parents can remove their children from poor-performing schools and take the vouchers with them. This will engender competition and incentivise excellence at all levels of the supply-side of education and raise due diligence on the demand-side. The health vouchers will operate the same way,' Jeffery said. Maja said ending fake transformation, which only enriches those at the very top, is critical to truly changing South Africa's economy. 'True transformation would move the needle on the numbers of unemployment, economic growth, and the rates of poverty and decline of state services and infrastructure. All of which have either stagnated or, in some instances, worsened since the advent of fake transformation,' said Maja. Dr Rowena Bernard, a senior lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's School of Law, said the proposed EED excludes racial criteria and any form of racial classification as a basis for empowerment. She added that it emphasises merit, skills, objective criteria, and measurable socio-economic disadvantage, and no EED measure may rely on demographic representativity, racial criteria, racial targets or quotas, or any form of classification by race. The focus of the BEE is on redistribution instead of growth. It is based on racial classification and preference, which goes against the founding principles of the Constitution. The BEE tends to benefit only a small elite of South Africans; unfortunately, the vast majority of black South Africans still receive limited benefits from the policy. South Africa's progress in reducing poverty and inequality, and improving socio-economic rights has been relatively slow, Bernard said. 'The BEE overlooks contributions made by the private sector in terms of upward mobility by investing, employing, innovating, and paying taxes. According to the BEE policy, businesses are to be measured according to a scorecard to determine their compliance level. The elements in the generic scorecard relate to ownership, which measures the economic interest, voting rights, and net value of shares held by black people. 'Management control assesses the number of executive boards, senior, middle, and junior management positions held by black members in a business. Skills development focuses on skills development initiatives and training for black employees.' Under the EED, existing race-based contracts or empowerment schemes will be reviewed within 18 months and may also be terminated by a court or tribunal if they are tainted by inflated pricing, corruption, undue influence, or other damaging or unlawful conduct. She added that the EED proposes the introduction of a voucher system in the three critical areas of education, housing, and health, affecting the lives of the vast majority of South Africans. 'This proposed voucher system will be available to all South Africans and will not be based on any racial criteria. A means test will be used to determine an individual's eligibility for the voucher. 'This means that people earning below the threshold would be granted education vouchers, up to a certain amount; this voucher would then be used at the school of their choice. This would be done by redirecting the education budget. This system would give children from lower-income families the right to make their own educational choice. This would also have an effect on failing state schools, which many children have to attend because they have little other choice. This allows for better choices and better education opportunities,' she said. Bernard added that the vouchers would work similarly for housing and healthcare, as people would no longer have to solely rely on government services. 'Access to the vouchers would enable people to improve their living conditions, not rely on the inferior, low-cost houses built and provided by the South African government. They will be able to use the voucher to either build better quality homes or rent proper homes. It is envisioned that it will reduce homelessness, housing instability, and overcrowding. Health vouchers will increase access to healthcare. People will no longer have to rely on free public health care treatment, which will increase access to better quality health care,' she said. The EED, she said, brings in a new perspective to address the real challenges all South Africans experience regardless of their race. It provides realistic options to empower and uplift those who are disadvantaged. Bernard said the bill may have serious consequences for employment laws. 'Affirmative action measures and policies will also be affected as employers will not be able to introduce preferential policies that result in racial preferencing. All employees will have equal opportunities in relation to promotions and fair labour practices. All employees will have equal opportunities to receive training and skills development,' she said. She added that it may result in financial strain and capacity issues as employers will be expected to review and change existing employment policies and practices. There may be an increase in employee grievances concerning unfair discrimination claims, which will lead to a strain on the resources of the employer and the court system. 'The EED Bill will certainly benefit the majority of black employees, but the proposed non-racial approach would reaffirm the Constitution's founding values of equality and human dignity,' she said. However, Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast said the IRR is using non-racialism to block transformation. 'The issue of transformation is not debatable, because it comes from the Constitution. The preamble of the Constitution talks about the transformation, which is a historical appreciation. So, we can't have nation-building and social cohesion without transformation. 'We can't be united when the rugby national team is playing, but when it comes to other issues, we don't want to talk about them. It looks like some people want to preserve their privileges. In my opinion, people are not being honest, because if you look at poverty and unemployment, those social cleavages have a colour,' Breakfast said. He added that the BEE has not achieved its intended objective, but that doesn't mean that transformation must take a back seat. 'We need to call out people who are pushing back from transformation, while at the same time talking about social cohesion and nation-building. Unemployment, inequality, and poverty still indicate that race is an issue. How do you transcend racial categorisation but still have these issues along racial lines? If this bill goes to Parliament, it won't be adopted by the majority. I don't think this policy is proposed in good faith. I find it very suspicious,' he said.
The Citizen
11-07-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
IRR survey: Growing number of South Africans oppose race-based laws
The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has reported growing public support for its call to repeal South Africa's remaining race-based laws, following the momentum of its #WhatSACanBe campaign. Launched four months ago, the campaign promotes evidence-based policies aimed at driving economic growth and social progress. One of its key proposals is the No More Race Laws Bill. This draft legislation is designed to repeal race-based laws and end mandatory racial classification in South African law. The campaign emerges in response to the Employment Equity Amendment Act, introduced by Minister of Employment and Labour, Nomakhosazana Meth. The Act enforces race-based targets for businesses and requires individuals and companies to report on racial and gender classifications to demonstrate compliance. Makone Maja, strategic engagements manager at the IRR, criticised the legislation. 'This makes Minister Meth the perfect recipient of the No More Race Laws petition,' said Maja. 'The petition is anchored in the tenets of the No More Race Laws Bill and has so far received 12 373 signatures from ordinary South Africans who have had enough of race laws that rob the people they claim to benefit, while enabling the political elite to amass enormous wealth.' Maja argued that such laws support what the IRR describes as a system of 'fake transformation' that fails to uplift the nearly half of the population still living in poverty. According to the IRR, the Ministry of Employment and Labour has failed to deliver on job creation and continues to back legislation that undermines economic growth. The organisation noted that South Africa continues to face some of the highest unemployment rates since the dawn of democracy, particularly among the youth. 'Blame for the last 10 years of little to no growth can be laid squarely at the door of laws that favour patronage over merit and value-for-money procurement,' Maja added. 'We can no longer afford to insist that race is relevant at the expense of true development and economic growth.' The IRR intends to deliver both the draft bill and the petition signatures to Minister Meth, urging her to take the first step toward inclusive, merit-based job creation by removing race-based policies. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
The Citizen
11-07-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
South Africans call for an end to race-based laws, says IRR
South Africans call for an end to race-based laws, says IRR The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has reported growing public support for its call to repeal South Africa's remaining race-based laws, following the momentum of its #WhatSACanBe campaign. Launched four months ago, the campaign promotes evidence-based policies aimed at driving economic growth and social progress. One of its key proposals is the No More Race Laws Bill. This draft legislation is designed to repeal race-based laws and end mandatory racial classification in South African law. ALSO READ: Institute of Race Relations slams unclear expropriation law The campaign emerges in response to the Employment Equity Amendment Act, introduced by Minister of Employment and Labour, Nomakhosazana Meth. The Act enforces race-based targets for businesses and requires individuals and companies to report on racial and gender classifications to demonstrate compliance. Makone Maja, strategic engagements manager at the IRR, criticised the legislation. 'This makes Minister Meth the perfect recipient of the No More Race Laws petition,' said Maja. 'The petition is anchored in the tenets of the No More Race Laws Bill and has so far received 12 373 signatures from ordinary South Africans who have had enough of race laws that rob the people they claim to benefit, while enabling the political elite to amass enormous wealth.' Maja argued that such laws support what the IRR describes as a system of 'fake transformation' that fails to uplift the nearly half of the population still living in poverty. ALSO READ: Law enforcement agencies embark on mission to combat Gauteng crime According to the IRR, the Ministry of Employment and Labour has failed to deliver on job creation and continues to back legislation that undermines economic growth. The organisation noted that South Africa continues to face some of the highest unemployment rates since the dawn of democracy, particularly among the youth. 'Blame for the last 10 years of little to no growth can be laid squarely at the door of laws that favour patronage over merit and value-for-money procurement,' Maja added. 'We can no longer afford to insist that race is relevant at the expense of true development and economic growth.' The IRR intends to deliver both the draft bill and the petition signatures to Minister Meth, urging her to take the first step toward inclusive, merit-based job creation by removing race-based policies. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
The Citizen
11-07-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
IRR challenges racial classification laws with new draft bill and petition
The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has reported growing public support for its call to repeal South Africa's remaining race-based laws, following the momentum of its #WhatSACanBe campaign. Launched four months ago, the campaign promotes evidence-based policies aimed at driving economic growth and social progress. One of its key proposals is the No More Race Laws Bill. This draft legislation is designed to repeal race-based laws and end mandatory racial classification in South African law. ALSO READ: Institute of Race Relations demands list of expropriating authorities from government The campaign emerges in response to the Employment Equity Amendment Act, introduced by Minister of Employment and Labour, Nomakhosazana Meth. The Act enforces race-based targets for businesses and requires individuals and companies to report on racial and gender classifications to demonstrate compliance. Makone Maja, strategic engagements manager at the IRR, criticised the legislation. 'This makes Minister Meth the perfect recipient of the No More Race Laws petition,' said Maja. 'The petition is anchored in the tenets of the No More Race Laws Bill and has so far received 12 373 signatures from ordinary South Africans who have had enough of race laws that rob the people they claim to benefit, while enabling the political elite to amass enormous wealth.' Maja argued that such laws support what the IRR describes as a system of 'fake transformation' that fails to uplift the nearly half of the population still living in poverty. ALSO READ: Germiston leads SA's fight against plastic waste According to the IRR, the Ministry of Employment and Labour has failed to deliver on job creation and continues to back legislation that undermines economic growth. The organisation noted that South Africa continues to face some of the highest unemployment rates since the dawn of democracy, particularly among the youth. 'Blame for the last 10 years of little to no growth can be laid squarely at the door of laws that favour patronage over merit and value-for-money procurement,' Maja added. 'We can no longer afford to insist that race is relevant at the expense of true development and economic growth.' The IRR intends to deliver both the draft bill and the petition signatures to Minister Meth, urging her to take the first step toward inclusive, merit-based job creation by removing race-based policies. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
The Citizen
08-07-2025
- Health
- The Citizen
Health minister weaponising racial bias report to push NHI, says IRR
Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi welcomed a report showing that medical aid schemes were racially discriminating against practitioners. The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has accused Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi of using a report into the racial bias of medical aid compliance standards to further his National Health Insurance (NHI) agenda. The report, compiled by a panel chaired by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, concluded that medical aid schemes were unfairly discriminating against black practitioners when investigating fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) claims. To reach this conclusion, the independent panel relied on an equation devised by a mathematician with a PhD from the University of Cape Town. 'The risk ratio is a tool we developed to work out the likelihood that a black practitioner would be subjected to an investigation, a finding and a penalty, versus a white practitioner,' explained Ngcukaitobi. 'What we found is that the FWA procedures, for the recovery of moneys allegedly owed, is unfair and violate the right to procedural fairness of individual practitioners,' said Ngcukaitobi. Minister 'weaponising' the report The report has divided the industry, with some welcoming it and others challenging the methodologies and findings. Motsoaledi was quick to support the report, but Hermann Pretorious, head of Strategic Communications at the IRR, questioned the minister's motives for doing so. 'His opposition to 'two different systems' of healthcare in South Africa is a naked attempt to justify a single system – the NHI,' he told The Citizen. He argued that any implication that the government could implement superior oversight of medical schemes was 'absurd'. He predicted the NHI would 'decimate' freedom of consumer choice. 'The obvious weaponisation of this report and its findings is a blatant and cynical ploy by Minister Motsoaledi to pay little more than lip service to the disgraceful failures of public healthcare under his watch whilst vilifying the most operational and successful part of healthcare in the country,' concluded Pretorious. ALSO READ: Medical aids slammed for procedural unfairness in new report Part of SA's make-up Pretorious found little fault with the report's methodology, suggesting the implied biases were a by-product of South Africa's racially charged society. 'Given the intensely and coercively racialised nature of South African law and regulatory frameworks within which corporates operate, the practice of racial classification and its various offshoots become visible in practices of various complex entities – in both the public and private sector.' Pretorius cautioned against assuming corporate compliance standards were infallible, noting how complex licensing had led to the closure of independent pharmacies and how regulators have frustrated attempts to create low-cost pharmaceuticals. 'Neither over-nor under-regulation helps the South African consumer and economy. What is needed is sensible regulation – particularly in the healthcare industry,' said Pretorius. Report 'flawed' The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) rejected the report, highlighting that FBW cost medical aid schemes roughly R30 billion each year, losses that were passed on to consumers. Managing Director Dr Katlego Mothudi said the report was 'demonstrably and fundamentally flawed' and would aid fraud if the recommendations were implemented. Mothudi stated the BHF would not allow the report to distort their work, as they had a 'moral imperative' to end exploitation by practitioners, regardless of race. 'The investigation relied on unscientific methods to assign race, using surnames to categorise providers, despite well-documented inaccuracies and lack of scientific validity in this approach,' he stated. Mothudi explained that patient volumes and exposure bias were not properly considered, nor was the fact that some providers serve a disproportionately large share of scheme members. 'One of the large schemes investigated, which is a member of the BHF, serves a member base that is 91% black, which logically results in a higher rate of member interactions with black providers,' stated the MD. ALSO READ: Motsoaledi announces 1 650 new healthcare jobs and R1.3bn to be spent on hospital equipment The South African Medical Association (SAMA) explained that they were an active participant in the panel's work and called for 'legislative, regulatory, and operational' reforms. SAMA wish to see the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) publish fixed timelines for the report's implementation within the next 60 days and for the health department to amend the Medical Schemes Act. 'The report validates what many of our members have endured for years: racially skewed targeting, opaque algorithms, and Kafkaesque audit processes,' stated SAMA chair Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa. He concurred with Ngcukaitobi's assertion that algorithms used by medical aids to detect fraud were flawed and that a transparent, independent system should be implemented. 'Our members have a right to fair treatment, regardless of their race, and patients deserve a health system built on equity and accountability,' said Mzukwa. No racial profiling, says Discovery Discovery Health was adamant that incidents of potential FWA had legitimate grounds for investigation and that there was no evidence of racial profiling. The medical scheme giant cited a 2021 version of the same report, which found their systems to be legally sound, and stated that it was considering the possibility of a formal review of the final report. 'We are deeply concerned that the panel's conclusions are based on flawed methodology, unscientific assumptions, and misinterpretation of complex data,' stated Discovery CEO Dr Ron Whelan. 'We maintain a zero-tolerance stance on any form of racial discrimination and rigorously investigate any such allegations,' Whelan added. Like the BHP, he warned the report would undermine the fraud prevention efforts of medical aids, risk schemes' sustainability and jeopardise member contributions. NOW READ: Medical aids slammed for procedural unfairness in new report
