Constructing the Symbolic Agendas of Political and Structural Transformation with the Discourse of Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Metji Makgoba
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment

scholarly journals Black Economic Empowerment, Barriers to Entry, and Economic Transformation in South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 189-212
Author(s):  
Thando Vilakazi ◽  
Teboho Bosiu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Barriers To Entry ◽  
Limited Impact ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment

One of the key challenges of South Africa’s democratic project has been supporting the effective participation of the previously excluded black majority in the economy. The broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) policy, as the primary tool employed to drive racial transformation, is assessed and found to have had a limited impact, although there has been some progress. The chapter considers the link between structural transformation and black economic empowerment in three key parts. First, relevant literature is drawn on to build the argument that inclusion matters for structural transformation. Second, is an examination of the factors that have underpinned the challenges with the implementation of BBBEE to open up the economy for broader participation, including its limited focus on key barriers to entry, and the implications for structural transformation in South Africa. Third, the chapter presents a case study based on a survey of applicants under the government’s ‘black industrialists scheme’ as a critical evolution from, and alternative to, the approach followed with BBBEE, as it is able to contribute to both racial and structural transformation of the economy. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the roles of black economic empowerment and the black industrialists scheme, barriers to entry, and structural transformation of the economy.

Black Economic Empowerment, ICT, and Preferential Public Procurement in South Africa

2013 ◽  
pp. 1164-1185
Author(s):  
Karunanidhi Reddy ◽  
Renitha Rampersad
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Black People ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Government ◽  
Procurement System

Broad-based black economic empowerment has been a central part of the South African government’s economic transformation strategy. The main purpose of BEE is to increase the number of black people that manage, own, and control the country’s economy, and as a result, to reduce income inequalities and to contribute to economic transformation in South Africa. During apartheid in South Africa, the government procurement system favoured large, established businesses and made it difficult for newly established businesses to participate in the procurement system. This chapter gives an overview of the Black Economic Empowerment policy as a means to achieve socio-economic transformation in South Africa by providing preferences for Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDIs) and small businesses, when making procurement decisions. It also examines how procurement is used as a policy tool by government while simultaneously ensuring that it does not contradict the constitutional right to equality. The chapter also explores the implications of the Preferential Public Procurement Framework Act (Act 5 of 2000) and the latest procurement regulations. Finally, it discusses the use of ICT and the vital role it plays in preferential procurement in South Africa.

scholarly journals Black economic empowerment in the Eastern Cape automotive industry: Challenges and policies

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 490-503
Author(s):  
GS Horn
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Automotive Industry ◽  
Automobile Industry ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
The South ◽  
Business Skills ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in South Africa are under pressure to meet the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies and charters of the South African government by giving BEE suppliers additional opportunities to tender. However, many BEE suppliers, due to being historically disadvantaged, experience various problems which make it difficult for them to win tenders, including lack of finances, opportunities to tender and management and business skills, and problems with quality and capacity. This paper outlines these practical problems experienced by BEE suppliers, the effects of these problems on risk and complexity in the South African automotive industry and policies that address these problems and assist BEE suppliers to become A-rated suppliers. Data for the paper was obtained from interviews with: senior employees of the AIDC involved with supplier development training; middle managers of supplier quality and development departments at the three OEMs in the Eastern Cape Province; and BEE and small suppliers identified to undergo AIDC training. The findings of the study are that unless sufficient training is given to BEE and potential BEE suppliers, supply to OEMs will remain in the hands of existing established suppliers and very little transformation will occur within the automobile industry in South Africa.

scholarly journals Regulating Against Business "Fronting" to Advance Black Economic Empowerment in Zimbabwe: Lessons from South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tapiwa V Warikandwa ◽  
Patrick C Osode
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
The South ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment ◽  
Do So

This article examines Zimbabwe’s indigenisation legislation, points out some of its inadequacies and draws lessons from South Africa’s experiences in implementing its own indigenisation legislation. Both countries have encountered challenges relating to an upsurge in unethical business conduct aimed at defeating the objectives of their black economic empowerment programmes, policies and legislation. This practice is called business fronting. However, while South Africa has succeeded in enacting a credible piece of legislation aimed at addressing this issue, Zimbabwe has yet to do so. The article points out that the failure to regulate against business fronting poses the most significant threat to the attainment of the laudable aims and objectives of the indigenisation programme and related legislation. In order to avoid becoming a regulatory regime that is notorious for not only being functionally ineffective but also for tacitly permitting racketeering in reality, the article argues for the adoption of anti-fronting legislation in Zimbabwe using the South African legislation as a model.

Black economic power and nation-building in post-apartheid South Africa

2004 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okechukwu C. Iheduru
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment ◽  
The Government ◽  
Growth Coalition

This paper evaluates the evolution and the implementation of the ANC government's commitment to fostering a black capitalist class or black economic empowerment (BEE) as a non-racial nation-building strategy. A substantial black bourgeois i.e. and other middle classes begun to emerge over the last decade, contrary to popular perceptions. The legitimating role assigned to the emergent black bourgeoisie by the ANC and the government is, however, threatens to turn the strategy into a nepotistic accumulation. This development is paradoxically threatening to re-racialise the country, widening black inequality gaps, and precluding the rise of a black bourgeoisie with a nurture capitalist agenda. Other equally powerful social groups have begun to challenge the prevailing strategy, compelling the government to explore a more accommodating strategy exemplified by the recent introduction by the government of ‘broad-based economic empowerment’. Should a less patrimonial, less racially and ethnically divisive BEE strategy emerge from this quasi-pluralist power play, such a change holds prospects for the creation of a ‘growth coalition’ capable of sustainable capitalist development and true empowerment of the black majority. That would be a positive development in terms of establishing and consolidating democracy in South Africa.

scholarly journals Black economic empowerment in post-1994 South Africa: ANC curse and/or socialist/communist covenant?

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 162-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis P. Krüger
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Employment Equity ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment ◽  
National Congress

After more than 21 years under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), post-1994 South Africa finds itself yet again embroiled in race-related politics. Government policies such as black economic empowerment (BEE) and employment equity (EE) have not brought about the economic growth, social development and political democracy that the late former President Nelson Mandela had envisaged and what the ANC had promised to all the people of South Africa. South Africa is currently disengaging itself from the West including the Unites States of America (USA) and certain European Union (EU) countries and appears to rather embrace and align itself with countries such as Russia and China that pursue socialist and communist ideologies. Both these two issues may have a profound impact on how businesses will be managed in the future. In an exploratory, qualitative study using a “5 Star” research methodology, the direct and indirect impacts of BEE policies were investigated and the possible movement in South Africa’s ideological stance was explored. BEE does not appear to have helped to bring about high economic growth to help to reduce unemployment and eradicate the high levels of poverty and inequality, and government graft and corruption have increased at all levels of government, including local municipalities. BEE appears to have become the ANC’s curse to economic, social and political progress and should be scrapped. A national debate should follow on whether the ANC’s current covenant with pro-socialism and pro-communism rather than Western free-market capitalism is the appropriate ideology for South Africa to pursue. Keywords: black economic empowerment (BEE), employment equity (EE), African National Congress (ANC), capitalism, socialism, communism. JEL Classification: M14, M21

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