Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa

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.

DRIVERS FOR LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICAN MUNICIPALITIES

Local economic development (LED) within municipalities in South Africa has been viewed as a failing project by many commentators, practitioners and scholars. One of the areas attributed as a causal factor for distrust on efforts related to local economic development is lack of clarity on foundational dynamics and drivers of LED. This study used interpretivist approaches to analyze key theoretical frameworks that provide explanations for challenges related to articulation of drivers for LED. As a theoretical paper authors established rigor through mapping theories to building blocks of a theoretical argument being the what, when, how and why. The central argument of this paper is that while the potential of LED strategies is not disputed and the economic value of land is , the implementation of such strategies does not assist in achieving the intended objectives of poverty alleviation and economic development. The study concluded that while local municipalities are mandated by the Constitution to “promote social and economic development”, they will not be able to do this without clear policy guidance; institutional capacity-building; inter-sectoral collaboration; political ‘champions’ to drive the process; and real empowerment of the beneficiaries whom the projects is supposed to assist.Key Words : Local economic development. Theoretical framework, Commonage, Business development, Black economic empowerment,

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

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 policy and the transfer of equity and mine assets to Black people in the South Africa’s mining industry

Background: The Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) and the Mining Charter, which both came into force in 2004, required white-owned and foreign-owned companies operating in the country to transfer 26% of the value of equity ownership and ensure that historically disadvantaged persons (HDSAs) attain 40% control of mine assets. The regulations are part of the broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) policy that seeks to transform the whole economy and enable black people to participate fully in all sectors of the economy after years of exclusion under apartheid laws. The inclusion of black people in the industry started with conglomerates unbundling mining houses in the early 1990s. Elsewhere such programmes succeed through selective government intervention. The South African government instead is pursuing a hands-off approach leaving HDSAs to survive under market mechanisms, which limits HDSAs’ chances of exploitation of opportunities.Aim: To explain challenges of attaining and sustaining equity target levels and highlight the extent to which black people own equity and mine assets, explore strategies used and reveal other realities in the implementation of the policy. These aims are met by exploring the ownership structures of white-owned, foreign-owned and black-owned companies and BEE deals concluded by them between the 1990s and 2015. It was also important to learn from the experiences of countries that pursued similar policies as a means of providing knowledge and information to policymakers and the general public.Setting: The study used a sample of 72 mining companies in South Africa operating in various mineral categories.Methodology: This article used a qualitative approach involving both secondary and primary data. Purposeful selective sampling was used to draw from all listed mining companies with a cut-off of July 2011. The market capitalisation of these were used to estimate equity targets owned by black people. Another 16 mining companies not listed were used to explore the strategies, challenges and other realities. This required exploring changes in shareholding structures and BEE deals concluded. Face-to-face structured interviews were conducted with a total of 35 executives, top management or their representatives from 27 companies, a few members of academia and government officials between 2012 and 2014.Results: Targets set by the MPRDA and the Mining Charter have not been met. Thus, little equity ownership has been transferred to black people. A broad category of black people have, however, benefited from BEE deals. These include individual companies, consortiums, communities and employee ownership schemes. To avoid risks, the sellers of mine assets host black people in separate companies, special purpose vehicles and holding companies. In general, lack of capital, dilution of black shareholding, indebtedness and limited expertise to run extractive ventures successfully challenge the survival of black-owned companies. Despite these problems, a few such companies are worth billions of rand.Conclusion: The success of empowerment policies that seek to offer selective preferences to enterprises elsewhere has depended on the government’s concerted efforts. These include establishing institutions to oversee policy execution and having financial and other supports. Challenges that black-owned mining companies face indicate a call for help. Unless the government intervenes and supports them there is a danger that white-owned and foreign-owned companies will completely buy back the assets once sold to black people resulting in a failure of the empowerment policy.

Analysing the criteria of private equity investment in South Africa

Orientation: Within the conceptual paradigm that the institutional environment may influence investment criteria, this study argues that South Africa has a unique socio-economic environment and matters such as black economic empowerment, corruption, redistribution of land and other related matters pose unique challenges to private equity investors.Research purpose: The purpose was to determine the critical criteria that present a challenge to private equity investment professionals when considering an investment in business ventures in South Africa.Motivation for the study: As far as can be established, similar research to identify and prioritise the investment criteria used by private equity investors has not been done or published in South Africa.Research approach/design and method: A literature review was conducted to develop qualitatively a 51-component questionnaire, which was quantitatively tested by a convenience sample of 44 registered private equity investment professionals in South Africa.Main findings: Descriptive statistical analysis revealed that the most important individual criteria component is the intention of co-shareholders. From a factor analysis, the most important factors are the internal and the external abilities of the fund manager to identify investment opportunities.Practical/managerial implications: The new prioritised investment decision-making criteria may aid potential target companies, wanting to attract funding from private equity investors, to organise themselves to become attractive investment opportunities.Contribution/value-add: A new prioritised list was developed to better understand how South African private equity investment professionals make investment decisions.

Strategic stakeholder management: investor relations in South Africa

PurposeThe study explores the use of professional investor relations (IR) practices in South African (SA) listed companies to understand which theories may be responsible for IR's adoption and growth in South Africa, an emerging economy. Therefore, this study evaluates shareholder value maximisation, stakeholder and legitimization theory and institutional isomorphism theory as possible theories to explain professional IR behaviour in SA listed companies.Design/methodology/approachThe study design is qualitative and exploratory, based on a questionnaire developed and sent to all companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE).FindingsThe results indicate evidence of isomorphic spread to SA environments from practices observed in the UK and the USA, which we find are mostly performed to promote shareholder interests. The data suggest some evidence that the communication needs of black economic empowerment and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investors are given priority, suggesting the utility of professional IR to obtain legitimisation from society. Contrary to expectation is that social media communication channels are not extensively used.Practical implicationsThe descriptive nature of this study may be valuable to IR practitioners to improve SA IR practises, while neglected legitimisation opportunities with regard to the needs of ESG and black economic empowerment shareholders may be fruitfully addressed by practitioners.Originality/valueThis study innovates in its use of legitimisation theory and isomorphism theory to develop the study's expectations. Social problems provide contextual elements unique to SA which provides a good opportunity to test the expectation of legitimisation theory's influence on professional IR practices.

Back to the Drawing Board?: Afribusiness NPC v Minister of Finance, [2020] ZASCA 140 and the Potential for Reconsideration of Preferential Procurement Policy in South Africa

In a 2 November 2020 decision with potentially far-reaching effects, a unanimous panel of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) upheld an appeal and ordered that the Preferential Procurement Regulations 2017 made by the Minister of Finance in terms of s 5 of the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act 5 of 2000 be declared invalid and set aside, suspending the invalidity for 12 months. These Regulations are an integral part of South Africa’s public procurement system, implementing the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA) and having the effect of binding law. By declaring them invalid, the Afribusiness judgment is perhaps the most momentous in the field of public procurement since the landmark series of AllPay cases. In the field of black economic empowerment more generally where multiple and conflicting goals have been pursued, Afribusiness constitutes a distinct judicial intervention into disciplining the quite wide discretion public bodies possess and have exercised across the spheres of government since 1994 to adopt such policies in the service of equality and redress. In this sense, the decision of the Bloemfontein court may be seen as part of the recent process of reform of South Africa’s public procurement system begun around 2012, itself best understood against the background of apartheid-era procurement practices and the less-than-complete reworking of those institutions under a non-racial constitutional democracy.