Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 598-621
Author(s):  
Thando Vilakazi
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Right ◽  
Black Businesses

The Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy has been one of the most direct attempts to achieve racial transformation in the South African economy. This chapter analyses the BEE programme and its outcomes against a wider understanding of meaningful economic inclusion, and offers a pragmatic, critical view of how BEE’s implementation transpired, and the pathways forward. The chapter builds on a vast literature to highlight that looking only at quantitative outcomes of BEE misses key issues in terms of the high barriers that sustain exclusion and concentration. Although BEE has evolved in the right direction, it has not done enough and a broader, integrated approach is required. Priorities for the pathway forwards include a focus on high barriers that exclude black businesses and people, funding as part of a broader set of interventions, coherence with parallel social and economic policies, and a strategic role for procurement and enterprise development.

Distance Makes the (Committed) Heart Grow Colder: MNEs’ Responses to the State Logic in African Variants of CSR

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 562-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin David Reddy ◽  
Ralph Hamann
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Home Country ◽  
Institutional Logics ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Corporate Social

The question of how multinational enterprises (MNEs) respond to local corporate social responsibility (CSR) expectations remains salient, also in the context of many African governments’ attempts to define and regulate business responsibilities. What determines whether MNEs respond to such local, state-driven expectations as congruent with their global commitment to CSR? Adopting an institutional logics perspective, we argue that a higher global CSR commitment will lead to higher local responsiveness when regulatory distance is low, but it will lead to lower local responsiveness when regulatory distance is high. We find support for our hypothesis using data on 93 MNEs’ responses to the South African state’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment policy. We thus contribute to the global–local CSR literature and show how MNEs’ local CSR responsiveness will be shaped by not only the local context but also their home country and firm-internal environments.

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.

South Africa’s PIC faces major overhaul

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Pension Fund ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Government Employees ◽  
Major Overhaul ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment ◽  
The Government

Significance The PIC oversees approximately 142 billion dollars, mostly on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF). While the GEPF’s assets are still comfortably greater than its liabilities, its surplus has been falling in recent years, with several questionable investments coming to light. Impacts Inquiry revelations could weaken support for government economic policies, such as prescribed assets, from traditional allies. The GEPF’s push to invest more funds overseas could have major implications for how much money the PIC manages and its future investments. The Commission's major long-term impacts could include a serious rethink of the ANC's black economic empowerment (BEE) economic policies.

scholarly journals The interrelationship between the South African private equity industry and black economic empowerment

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-334
Author(s):  
Jakobus Daniël van Heerden
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Private Equity ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Personal Communication ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
The South ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment ◽  
The Relationship

This paper investigates the relationship between the South African private equity industry and government’s black economic empowerment (BEE) legislation. As the private equity industry of South Africa was formalised only in 1999, literature and data regarding the industry is limited. The research is therefore more qualitative in nature, and is based on a combination of media and journal articles, domestic as well as global surveys, personal communication with experts in the industry and other relevant research. The study suggests that the need to earn black economic empowerment credentials is one of the major driving forces behind the growthexperienced in the South African private equity industry, and at the same time this growth leads to an accelerated BEE transformation process, resulting in an interrelationship between the industry and BEE.

scholarly journals Public Interest Considerations In The South African Anti-Dumping And Competition Law, Policy, And Practice

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omphemetse S. Sibanda Sr.
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
The South ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Competition Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Black Economic ◽  
Black Economic Empowerment

The paper addresses the delicate issue of public interest considerations when determining anti-dumping, competition, and investment measures to balance it with the interest of other interested parties in South Africa. It is particularly argued that the South African anti-dumping legislation must be amended as to clearly mandate the consideration of public interest when imposing an anti-dumping (or safeguard measure). Also, it is argued that the foreign direct investment regime must take into account policy considerations such as black economic empowerment in the public interest. The South Africas competition legislation will be used as an example of the level of convergence that may be achieved having regard to the non-competition factors incorporated in the legislation and potential or perceived difficulties in reconciling a competition analysis with a public interest analysis.

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