It is evident from the media that the current BEE initiatives and deals occurring in South Africa do not only benefit those considered black according to section 1 of the BEE Act. The ANC government is continuously challenged and called to action to repair the damage of the old apartheid regime which has left many black South Africans poorly educated, unemployed and poor. The BEE policy aims to include those previously excluded from participating and benefiting from South Africa’s flourishing economy, mainly black people. One cannot dispute the fact that many advantaged (i.e. not disadvantaged) blacks who were in the right position, have directly benefitted from BEE initiatives based on their race. Government should therefore possibly focus on those who are genuinely underprivileged, irrespective of pigmentation.
Introduction
April 1994 marked the first democratic elections in South Africa. The newly elected government had massive giants to tackle, including the low income earned by the majority of South Africans, lack of access to basic services and fair distribution of the factors of production (Masito, 2007, p.12). The government had to become the healer to those who were left scarred as a result of being dis-empowered and economically suppressed. In 1994 the ANC government introduced a Black Economic Empowerment policy (BEE) which according to the Department of Trade and Industry aims to speed empowerment of the previously disadvantaged and allow their participation in the economy. Government’s current remedy for the economic illnesses faced by South Africa is as a result of what one might call the Afrikaner Economic Empowerment movement (AEE) that reigned under the apartheid regime. The AEE movement (known as Boerderbond) was a survival mechanism for ...