Black people from South Africa’s neighbouring states do not qualify for grants from the South African government in terms of its black economic empowerment (BEE) policies, says South African Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa.
In a written reply to Freedom Front MP Frik van Heerden on Friday, the minister said the definition of black people as contained in the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act (BBBEEA) referred to African, coloured and Indian South Africans.
”The intention of government’s BBBEE policy is to try and redress the wrongs created by apartheid and therefore only those who suffered under apartheid are the intended target group,” he said.
In terms of grants for BEE, the Department of Trade and Industry ”does not offer such grants”.
South Africa had an institution that provided loan and equity funding for BEE transactions — the National Empowerment Fund.
”This institution is intended to alleviate the access to finance barriers that black South Africans encounter when trying to raise funding from traditional financial institutions.
”As the intended beneficiaries of government’s BEE policy are black people as defined above, this institution is therefore intended to assist black South Africans in particular in obtaining funding. Other development structures, which primarily support black South Africans, are the Small Enterprise Development Agency and the South African Microfinance Apex Fund.” – I-Net Bridge