Economic transformation “has been frustratingly slow” and has favoured the few, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said in Pretoria on Thursday.
Read “BEE’s glass slipper“
“We have to admit the speed of economic transformation has been frustratingly slow at times,” Motlanthe told the inaugural meeting of the president’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Council.
“We have to admit that the broad-based part of BEE has seemed elusive. The story of black economic empowerment in the last 25 years has been a story dominated by a few individuals benefiting again and again.”
Motlanthe asked the council to consider that most of South Africa’s marginalised were being sidelined.
Motlanthe was delivering the speech in place of President Jacob Zuma, who had cancelled his public engagements for two days to rest following a “hectic” schedule, his office said on Thursday.
Disappointing
Meanwhile, the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) on Thursday said that phone giant MTN does not live up to the spirit of its employment equity plan.
“The CWU deplores the manner in which MTN handles matters relating to employment equity as enshrined in the Employment Equity Act of 1998,” it added in a statement.
It said that in terms of the Act, joint structures between representatives of the workers and management for the purpose of development and implementation of Employment Equity Plan had to be established.
“The main objective of this piece of legislation is to transform and democratise the workplace, taking into cognisance levels and categories of employees from what is called designated groups, i.e. blacks, women and the disabled people.”
The CWU said it was, however, disappointing that although MTN had established these structures in 2008, and in addition developed a plan to implement equity related matters, it didn’t live up to the spirit of the plan. — Sapa