Phosa calls for review of BEE

South Africa needs to radically reform its black economic empowerment policies to stop black entrepreneurs from being "parasites" dependent on white businesses.

So said ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa.

"We need to create strong black businesses. We haven't done that," he said.

"[We must] not do BEE on the basis of the value of the share price, which is what happened in the past 20 years. The bulk of BEE deals were based on the share price whether it was high or low.

''When the economic recession came, all those share price-linked deals went under water.

"We must stand on our own feet. We must change the model. BEE policy must be reformed drastically, cut out fronting, cut out parasites.

"The black man cannot be parasites to economic development. They must be at the centre of it."

Phosa also decried the awarding of tenders to foreign businesses, saying this undermined local business confidence.

"We tend to give foreign companies a lot of tenders . [they] take the money out [of the country]. They create temporary jobs and remain here for a long as the tender lasts," he said.

This comes after Cosatu called on motorists to boycott the e-tolling system on Gauteng's freeways amid revelations that an Austrian company, Kapsch Traffic-Com - which has built and will operate the tolls - had recorded R1.2-billion in earnings from its local operations in the 2010/2011 financial year.