The DA is pushing to scrap the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy, citing its “failure” to empower South Africans.
On Tuesday the party unveiled a new billboard stating, “BEE made ANC elites rich and left SA poor. Choose real opportunities for all. Vote DA.”
DA MP Mat Cuthbert said the billboard lays bare a truth South Africans already know.
“The ANC’s Broad-Based BEE policy has failed,” Cuthbert said. “It has made a handful of politically connected individuals wealthy while the rest of the country has been left behind.
“This billboard captures the choice that now faces South Africa: continue down the same failed path that made ANC elites rich and left South Africa poor, or choose real opportunities for all by voting DA.”
He said the policy only benefits a few in state tenders and contracts, while most South Africans are left to suffer the consequences.
“For three decades this policy has been sold as empowerment, but it has delivered the opposite. Millions remain locked out of the economy, with 12-million South Africans unable to find work and 44-million struggling just to afford their next meal.”
The party wants to replace BEE with a new system via its Economic Inclusion for All Bill that targets poverty, unemployment and skills development and builds local economies instead of benefiting politically connected individuals.
“Unlike the ANC’s system that encourages fronting and patronage, the DA’s approach focuses on need, fairness and tangible empowerment. It supports small businesses, removes red tape and builds local economies where opportunity is earned, not given to the well-connected.”
A petition has been launched urging South Africans to support the new bill and do away with BEE.
However, its government of national unity (GNU) partner, the ANC, has expressed opposition to this proposal. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said anyone who wants to do away with BEE and affirmative action wants to kill redress and close shop.
“You are saying to us we must kill redress,” Mbalula said.
“That’s why we are ANC. You’re saying we must cede power to the DA. They must then be in charge. We are not them. We might meet there at GNU, but we are not one.”
TimesLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.