BUCHIZYA MSETEKA, Pretoria | Thursday
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday the economic empowerment of South Africa’s black majority was moving too slowly and vowed to back programmes to accelerate the process.
Mbeki told a news conference after two-hour talks with the Black Business Council he was personally disappointed with the progress visible seven years after the fall of white rule. The Black Business Council is the umbrella body of black businesses and plays a key role in advising the government on ways to overcome the economic legacy of white apartheid rule.
“We are moving too slowly. Much, much too slowly. Even snails move faster than we have moved on this matter,” Mbeki said.
Mbeki, who succeeded Nelson Mandela in 1999, has sketched a vision of an African Renaissance for the country and the continent. Central to his ideal of future success is finding ways of helping blacks enter the business field.
“This (empowerment) is a very important issue for the future of our country. There have been problems. We do indeed agree that there must be a focus on black empowerment, on issues such as access to capital, skills and human development,” he added.
The Black Business Council delegation was led by former African National Congress Secretary-General Cyril Ramaphosa, who is one of the country’s most successful black businessmen. Since historic all-race elections in 1994, white corporations have scrambled to embrace black partners, with banks eager to lend to foster a new class of entrepreneurs. Some, like Ramaphosa, have succeeded, but the majority have faltered, analysts say.
Only 10% of the country’s top-earning 20% are black, though this is up from 2% in 1990. The black shareholding in the JSE Securities Exchange has fallen to 5.3% now from a peak of 9.6% in 1998.
Mbeki said key proposals in a report submitted by Ramaphosa and his delegation would explain why empowerment had faltered and could offer a quick and durable way forward.
“These are very detailed proposals to speed up the process of black empowerment. The government will spend about a month looking at and analysing the proposals. “After that we will get together again to chart the way forward,” Mbeki said.
Analysts say black economic empowerment was stalled and that only a well-defined government programme can prevent collapse. Mbeki agreed: “When we talk about black empowerment we need to know what we are talking about. We need to define it. We need to implement it.” – Reuters
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