Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, argues that anyone who debates black economic empowerment (BEE) promotes white supremacy.
Mantashe shared his views on black economic empowerment during a discussion on Newzroom Africa about the mining sector.
He said that under the Apartheid government, black people were seen as instruments in mining rather than as employees.
“We were not regarded as humans at the time. We were not regarded as employees. We were not regarded as people who could participate in the economy,” he said.
The minister said BEE has opened up the space for innovative black South Africans to be owners in the mining sector.
“Coal mining is 80% owned and managed by black South Africans. More than 50% of manganese mining is owned and managed by black people,” he said.
He added that although platinum group metal (PGM) mining is majority-owned by others, black South Africans manage this sector.
“Anyone who opens a debate about BEE today is promoting white supremacy,” Mantashe said in the interview.
He added that white dominated parties, like the Freedom Front Plus and the Democratic Alliance, hate black economic empowerment.
“They hate BEE because it is changing what they were built on. They are dependent on white capacity,” he said.
He said that black economic empowerment enabled black people to become owners, executives, and managers at South African companies.
“Those who promote white supremacy and regard blacks as inherently inferior hate black economic empowerment,” he said.
Earlier this year, the DA announced a new bill that would replace BEE with a new system for public procurement.
The party argued that BEE has not fulfilled its mandate and has failed to uplift poor black South Africans. Matthew Cuthbert, the DA’s head of policy, said that “ANC economic policies have left South Africans unemployed and poor. This is not the inclusive country that we envisioned building in 1994.”
BEE is not pro-black and anti-white – IRR
Institute of Race Relations (IRR) Fellow Gabriel Crouse argues that BEE will survive for as long as the idea persists that the policy is pro-black and anti-white.
“If you look at how BEE actually works, you will stop thinking that it’s anti-white and pro-black. BEE will survive for as long as that message does not get out,” he said.
“When BEE is advertised as pro-black and anti-white, it will retain enough political relevance and political popularity to survive,” he said.
It will survive despite having been so terribly damaging to people from all groups, directly and indirectly.
Crouse said black economic empowerment cuts against everyone, not just because of second-order effects but directly.
“It has already been used against people from every single group, so you will confront a clear and present danger to our rainbow republic,” he said.
He said even people who realise the devastating effect of BEE continue to support it because they think they belong to one race group that is a special victim.
He referenced the new employment equity targets, which require businesses to classify their staff based on their race.
“Refusing racial classification at work is a matter of being a South African who sees the system is stupid, counterproductive, and undignified,” he said.
Free Market Foundation CEO David Ansara said that BEE is one of South Africa’s most highly contested policies, affecting all areas of the economy and society.
He said BEE costs the South African economy approximately R290 billion per year. This translates to a total of R5 trillion in lost economic activity since the policy’s inception.
Ansara added that black poverty has worsened during the period when black economic empowerment has been at its strongest.
He highlighted that black economic empowerment only enriches a small group of politically connected elites. “This is a feature, not a bug of the policy,” he said.
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