Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Black Economic Empowerment

latest news & developments
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe
SOUTH AFRICA

SA economy: Motlanthe on what needs to be done

Former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe addressed the Black Business Council (BBC) annual summit, conceding that despite political transformation, ownership and control…

  • Brian Sokutu
3 min read
Call for accountability: Concerns about the criteria used and process followed in awarding the deal to Tinley Leisure Women Investments continue to linger. Photo: Supplied
BUSINESS AND FINANCE

Trust questions IDC equity to ‘outsiders’

The R2.1 billion Club Med deal faces scrutiny as Chief Jiba Magwaza of the Magwaza Royal Trusts in KwaZulu-Natal criticizes the involvement of Tinley Leisure Women Investments…

  • Brian Sokutu
9 min read
High stakes: South African businessman Robert Gumede
BUSINESS RESCUE

The African duo entrepreneurs who saved Tongaat Hulett

South African billionaire Robert Gumede and Zimbabwean deal-maker Rute Moyo have joined forces through their Vision Sugar Group to rescue the beleaguered sugar giant Tongaat…

  • Sandile Motha
7 min read
ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION

Economic transformation in the country is unfolding at a snail’s pace

South Africa faces slow economic transformation, highlighted by a 32.7% unemployment rate and just 6.9% black ownership in its 60 largest listed companies. Speakers at the Top…

  • Brian Sokutu
5 min read
B BBEE

Black Business Council accuses top law firms of resisting transformation over Legal Sector Code challenge

A legal battle over South Africa’s Legal Sector Code has reignited debate over transformation, ownership targets and procurement rules in the legal profession

  • Sheree Bega
6 min read
Cape Flats to the JSE author Phakamisa Ndzamela in conversation with former Brimstone executive Lawrie Brozin
B BBEE

Cape Flats to the JSE: New book challenges narrow narrative of B-BBEE

A new book on Brimstone’s rise challenges dominant views of B-BBEE, offering a detailed account of black business history, risk and ownership in South Africa

  • Hasina Kathrada
5 min read
True blue: The Democratic Alliance wants to table a bill in parliament ending broad-based black economic empowerment policy. Photo: Supplied
ANC

ANC, DA in ugly war over ‘nonsense’ BEE bill

The fallout is the latest threat to the fragile government of national unity that has frequently come to the brink of collapse over policy clashes between its two largest parties

  • Lunga Mzangwe
8 min read
The DA argued that the BEE policy had been created by white-owned big businesses to give shares to politically connected people in order to keep the status quo and benefit a few people.
ANC

DA urges ANC and the rest of the GNU to support its bill aimed at scrapping BEE

The Democratic Alliance is arguing that it’s in the ANC’s electoral interests to back the proposal

  • Lunga Mzangwe
5 min read
For the many who rightly feel abandoned by the government, and are sick of the state’s failures, the private sector stepping in to solve problems with energy, water and logistics might appear rational and necessary. (John McCann/MG)
ACCELERATED AND SHARED GROWTH INITIATIVES FOR SOUTH AFRICA

The privatisation agenda will not save South Africa

The state has tried the neoliberalism model in various forms for 31 years, and it has not worked

  • Andile Zulu
10 min read
Neglecting existing infrastructure generates higher long-term costs.
BEE

South Africa must revive its industrial ambitions

Black economic empowerment has been transformative but it needs to be revisited to broaden its pool of beneficiaries

  • Ashley Nyiko Mabasa
4 min read
Skilled but no jobs: South Africa’s history of dispossession and exclusion demands purposeful intervention to build a more just and inclusive economy. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G
BEE

We need to change – not reject – black economic empowerment

South Africa’s history of dispossession and exclusion demands purposeful intervention to build a more just and inclusive economy

  • Tara Roos
5 min read
Analyses of racialised disparities in both labour and product markets illustrate the need for strengthened economic redress. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G
POLITICAL CAPITALISTS

BEE is essential for economic growth

There is no factual evidence that deindustrialisation, poverty, inequality and unemployment is caused by black economic empowerment, as argued by William Gumede

  • Khwezi Mabasa
4 min read
The licensing of Elon Musk’s Starlink has sparked debate about whether South Africa’s black economic empowerment laws are an impediment to growth or path to an inclusive economy
ANC POLICY

Starlink raises questions about necessity and relevance of BEE laws

The licensing of Elon Musk’s Starlink has sparked debate about whether South Africa’s black economic empowerment laws are an impediment to growth or path to an inclusive economy

  • Nkateko Joseph Mabasa
4 min read
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has lambasted the Transformation Fund proposed by the ANC as a sophisticated mechanism of ‘looting’ and economic capture that will only benefit the politically-connected elite. (Photo by Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu via Getty Images)
BEE POLICY

Transformation Fund a ‘looting scheme’, says DA

The party says it will not rubber stamp ANC policies but will use the courts if necessary

  • Lyse Comins
5 min read
For Elon Musk, to call broad-based black economic empowerment ‘racist’ is to eat at the table apartheid set for you and complain when someone else is finally offered a chair.
APARTHEID

Elon Musk and the irony of calling black economic empowerment racist

Beneficiaries crying oppression are eating at the table apartheid set for them — and complaining when someone else is finally offered a chair

  • Armand Bam
6 min read