Mandla slates ‘BEE for Africans only’ call

THE call to exclude coloured and Indian South Africans from BEE in tenders worth more than R50-million is ill-timed‚ poorly conceived and flies in the face of the constitutional provision for redress‚ ANC MP Mandla Mandela says.

The grandson of late former president Nelson Mandela and the chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council has released a statement claiming that the proposed changes to BEE policy also contradict the ANC’s Mangaung resolution for radical economic transformation for all who were historically disadvantaged.

Mandela‚ who converted to Islam before marrying his fourth wife‚ Rabia Clarke‚ in February last year‚ was responding to a proposal sent to the national Treasury by KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development MEC Sihle Zikalala in August‚ as reported in the Sunday Times.

Zikalala’s proposal purportedly aims to “benefit black Africans”.

In his statement Mandela condemned the idea‚ calling the proposal “a bird-brained scheme‚ coming barely a week after Forbes released its list of the 20 wealthiest South Africans containing only two black people (incidentally‚ both African)‚ with no black people of any description ranking in the top five”.

“The proposal flies in the face of the significant contribution that other sectors of the historically disadvantaged have made to the struggle for freedom‚ justice and democracy.

“It comes two weeks after the commemoration of the murder of Imam Abdullah Haron and in the same week the High Court delivered its verdict that Comrade Ahmed Timol was killed by the apartheid state.

“How insensitive and crass can you get‚ to imply that the sacrifice of the Indian and coloured communities was somehow lesser?”

He went on to name the significant contributions to the struggle against apartheid made by several other Indian and coloured ANC members‚ including Dullah Omar‚ Imam Hasan Solomons‚ Lizzie Abrahams‚ Biebie Dawud and Amina Cachalia.

Mandela said “those who call for the exclusion of any sector of the historically disadvantaged from the benefits of redress should be seen as spokespersons for the historically advantaged and white monopoly capital”. – TimesLIVE