Premature to end black empowerment policies

South Africa is still a long way off from achieving its intended economic transformational objectives so calls for a sunset clause on broad-based black economic empowerment (BB-BEE) – a set of government policies and laws designed to address economic inequalities from the apartheid era – is premature, argues Kganki Matabane, the CEO of the Black Business Council (BBC). In a News24 analysis, Matabane writes that the reality, backed up by statistics, is that ownership, control and management of the economy reflect the demographics of the South African population. 'The negative impact of the apartheid regime's policies on the social, political and economic conditions of the majority of the population is well established and persists in present-day South Africa. Black South Africans are the majority, with a population of 45.7m – 80.8% of the total. The rest is made up of 5m coloured South Africans (8.7%), 1.4m Indian or Asian South Africans (2.6%), and 4.5m white South Africans (7.9%).' Matabane notes that despite black South Africans being in the majority, the top echelons of corporate SA continue to be dominated by white males. He refers to the latest findings by the Commission for Employment Equity which paint a damning picture in the slow pace of the past 30 years in redressing white dominance of the country's economy. 'The annual report shows that male representation remains dominant at top management level, which is more than two-and-a-half times the female representation. The commission, established in terms of the Employment Equity Act, advises the Minister of Employment & Labour on policy .... Regarding race, the data shows that whites occupy 62.1%, and Indians 11.6%, of all positions at the top management and CEO levels. This is significantly higher than their respective economically active populations (EAPs). The annual report found that while Africans had an EAP of 80.7%, they only accounted for 17.2% of top management positions. Coloureds with an EAP of 9% accounted for only 6.1% of all positions at this level. Black, coloured and Indian people, who constitute more than 92% of the population in South Africa, own less than 5% of the economy 30 years into democracy.' Matabane says instead of calling for the end of B-BBEE, the BBC advocates for the acceleration of its implementation in order to ensure that the majority play a meaningful role in the economy to safeguard SA's democracy. 'Keeping more than 92% of the population from running and owning the economy of their own country is unsustainable. The legislation will die a natural death when that happens,' he writes in the News24 analysis.