‘BEE of no benefit’
Mantashe slams project for lack of impact on the poor
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has criticised the government’s black economic empowerment (BEE) policy, saying it is of no benefit to the millions of poor South Africans. Mantashe was delivering the keynote address during the 60th Freedom Charter lecture at Nelson Mandela’s backyard in Qunu, hosted by the Nelson Mandela Museum.
He said BEE had less impact on “the masses of poor South Africans because it creates few capitalists”.
Mantashe said: “It does not benefit poor South Africans like social grants and the National Student Financial Aid scheme do.
“BEE creates black capitalists. It does not benefit everybody because it is not a social programme.”
He said sharing in the country’s wealth had to be understood as a concept of hard work where people were assisted to access funding so that they could convert their ideas into wealth. Mantashe warned against corruption. “We must also, in the process, remove the myth of sharing in the country’s wealth being reduced to dishing out resources for consumption.
“Wealth is created through hard work and involvement. The BEE project has registered relative success but not enough.
“Many of our people had access to shares and only related to those companies through the dividends without involvement in the operations.
“The South Africa of Nelson Mandela’s dream would be one where we take more responsibility for the operations so that there is depth of knowledge about the various sectors of the economy.”
He said it was the responsibility of every leader in every sector to ensure economic freedom was a reality in their lifetime.
“Key to economic freedom is access to land . . . 1913 cannot be the cut-off date as the wars of dispossession were over by then, and people already had been dispossessed of the land by that time.
“Land will be used to banish famine and hunger and . . . contribute to food security.
“In the South Africa of Nelson Mandela’s dream, the peasants will be helped with implements, seed, tractors and dams to assist the tillers.
“We must be able to confront the challenges of poverty, inequality, poverty and unemployment,” he said.
He praised the country’s social grants policy, saying social grants contributed positively to reducing abject poverty.
Mantashe called on the youth to avail themselves of opportunities in the agricultural sector.
“Our young people must be attracted to this sector as entrepreneurs and workers. But be warned that it is dirty, difficult and dangerous,” he said.
The Nelson Mandela Museum is expected to hold a series of 60th Year Freedom Charter Seminars across the country.