Deputy President Paul Mashatile has dismissed the DA’s bid to press the ANC to abandon broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE).
The DA’s Baxolile Nodada asked Mashatile why he would not support the introduction of a new economic inclusion bill when millions of South Africans are locked out of economic opportunities, while a select politically connected few benefit from B-BBEE.
Mashatile told Nodada that all South Africans want inclusion, and most of the reforms in place are intended to ensure exactly that.
“B-BBEE is being reviewed to check where the gaps are and I’m sure you can make an input in that process. At the end of the day, we want legislation that will ensure that we benefit the majority of South Africans. I will not support legislation that seeks to benefit a few. To the extent that there may be weaknesses, let’s correct that and make amendments. There’s no need to ditch the legislation and introduce something else.”
The DA recently said it wanted the Public Procurement Amendment Act of 2024 to be amended to repeal all race-based preferential procurement provisions and replace them with an empowerment system that targets poverty, not race, as the proxy for disadvantage.
Mashatile said the DA’s proposals would not work and that the country could not afford to do away with crucial transformative legislation meant to rectify previous imbalances.
Instead of abandoning crucial transformative legislation, Mashatile said that it would be refined to ensure it brought about the inclusivity that everyone wanted.
During oral questions in parliament on Tuesday afternoon, Mashatile underlined that high unemployment remained a serious concern, saying that accelerating the implementation of reform plans was the government’s priority.
When pressed on persistently high unemployment, Mashatile said “a marginal drop brings no comfort; we need to see sustained, meaningful change”.
He acknowledged now was “not the time for incrementalism” and pledged that the government would focus more intensively on delivering tangible outcomes rather than new policy launches.
Meanwhile, on spiralling household expenses, he told parliament: “We know very well that the cost of living is biting hard, especially affecting our poorest citizens. We cannot allow good policy to be undermined by poor implementation.”
He cited measures to reduce regulatory red tape, boost small-business growth and cut consumer burdens — though he stopped short of announcing any breakthrough relief packages.
Mashatile, who chairs the GNU clearing house, updated parliament of the workings of the collective.
“It will ensure that the executive does not speak with fractured voices and that cross-departmental action is coherent and timely. Many of the stumbling blocks don’t lie in new capacity and co-ordination. Our challenge is execution. Policy is written, now the work begins.”
Mashatile was quizzed on crime and national security, particularly the flow of contraband across borders.
He referred to cabinet-level co-ordination mechanisms, saying, “We cannot have pockets of intelligence and enforcement doing excellent work while others are left behind. We must act as one.”
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