The Mail & Guardian‘s recent Critical Thinking Forum drew in a stellar group of panellists to discuss the hotly debated topic of BEE and who the process really benefits.
Held at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg, the debate, titled BEE: Is it a rip-off? Who really benefits?, was moderated by Judge Dennis Davis. Panellists included Jimmy Manyi, Dirk Herman, Riah Phiyega, Vuyo Jack and Enoch Godongwana. Government officials, representatives of some of South Africa’s biggest banks and young entrepreneurs and business people filled the auditorium.
Viewpoints ranged widely. Herman took the controversial view that affirmative action is failing to bring about transformation in the country.
Phiyega said that BEE goes beyond notions of ownership and creates the belief among black people that they, too, can access potential wealth and are not excluded from wealth creation because of their colour.
Herman is deputy general secretary of Solidarity trade union and has recently published a book titled The Naked Emperor: Why Affirmative Action Has Failed. Phiyega is Absa group executive for group public affairs.
Manyi, head of the Black Management Forum, said the last people to benefit from BEE are those whom BEE processes were designed to uplift.
”The intended beneficiaries are the last to benefit,” said Manyi. ”Those first in line are the likes of the banks and law firms.”
There are, however, two schools of thought about BEE, said Empowerdex’s Vuyo Jack. One merely views BEE as a pattern of ownership, while the more encompassing vision of the codes includes broad-based economic empowerment, which will ensure that ”all black people are integrated into the process in a sustainable manner”.
On the far end of the spectrum sat Godongwana, famed labour activist and principal officer for the Financial Sector Charter Council.
”There is a misconception on the topic,” said Godongwana. ”People think it’s a macroeconomic strategy to address broader issues like poverty alleviation. We need a more detailed assessment of what BEE can and can’t achieve.”
Godongwana said BEE cannot be a tool for wealth redistribution and that other policy interventions, such as protectionism and land and agrarian reform, must be focused on to bring about change.
The different views of the panellists were carefully negotiated and interrogated by Davis, who closed the debate by saying that BEE must advance people who are not only previously disadvantaged but also currently disadvantaged. His final question to all present was: ”How do we close the gap between aspiration and reality in a society with a history like ours?”
Future forums will, by audience request, consider why black executives jump jobs so often
