Transformation is hampered by useless rent seekers posing as change agents
Special interest organisations harp on matters which have nothing to do with economic inequalities
Public discourse about economic transformation has become palpable.
The glaring inequalities confronting South Africa provide fertile ground for race reductionists to sow racial divisions.
Some leaders in the ANC have dismissed the notion of “white monopoly capital” as a ruse to detract the public from the grip of a shadow state whose shenanigans are elaborated in the recently published report, Betrayal of the Promise.
The debate about redress can’t be led by a leader described by ANC member of parliament Makhosi Khoza as “someone with a chronically impaired moral reflective capacity”.
It is therefore encouraging to see the South African Council of Churches (SACC) using its moral authority to convene a national convention on values, where economic transformation will also be explored.
The stance adopted by the SACC is profound, considering the equation of redress – by some in society – with rent seeking and corruption.
The concept of rent seeking has been inappropriately bandied around, especially since the release of the report by a group of academics on state capture.
While the authors of the report make a distinction between productive and unproductive rent seeking, they seem to be ignoring this distinction in the rest of the report.
Although this concept seems to be associated with corruption, rent seeking is not necessarily limited to corruption.
One of the ways of unravelling this should be the problematisation of special interest groups such as the Black Management Forum, Black Business Council (BBC), et al.
There is no doubt that these organisations are effective when it comes to influencing the state to introduce economic transformation policies.
However, a disturbing trend is how they are failing to use their power constructively.
The recent attempt by BBC to block the signing of the Financial I ntelligence Centre Amendment (Fica) bill by the president is a classical example
‘ ‘ Strategy serves interests of power elites
of unproductive rent seeking.
The fact that the president delayed the signing of the bill as a result of the objection by BBC highlights the dangers of this model.
The litigation threat made by BBC to challenge the sections it was unhappy about in the bill was all for naught.
It is astonishing that these unproductive rent seekers expended so much energy on a matter that did not advance the transformation agenda.
The threat was never going to materialise as the BBC and its affiliates are wary of accessing the judiciary to challenge violations of the Employment Equity Act. It is mind boggling that the self-proclaimed change agents who lead these organisations have not referred an iota of a case to the courts.
It might be wise for these organisations to take a leaf out of Solidarity and AfriForum’s book, in spite of the latter’s opposition to affirmative action and redress in general.
According to its submission to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Solidarity has initiated over 25 court cases to challenge affirmative action.
Jimmy Manyi, in his capacity as director-general of labour, exposed his race reductionism and unproductive rent seeking tendencies when he made crass comments about members of the population group that is classified as coloured.
Indeed, the Constitutional Court put this matter to rest in its correctional services judgment. It is plausible that the BBC and its affiliates have not initiated any court action to expose violations of transformation policies, as their agenda might be to maintain the unproductive rent seeking strategy that is serving the interests of the power elite.
It is high time for the members of these organisations to consider electing leaders who have the humility to learn from their opponents to accelerate the transformation agenda.