BEE: the origins

Manuel calls for BEE rules to be revised

In his interview, Manuel cited the example of a friend who had taken part in a number of empowerment deals.

"They (his white partners) say, 'We want you there. You are a good man. But actually we do not need you close to what we do.
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Hell I probably would have done exactly the same thing being the partners of the company.
You build a business up over 10 / 15 / 20 years (whatever). You have a vision of where you want your company to go. All of a sudden you’re told that you will get no more big contracts unless you have a black director or six. Never mind the effort you may have put into education and training. Never mind that you have black candidates who you’ve been putting effort and money into developing, who will be ready for the post in the near future.
So you get yourself a token, who won’t mess with something they know nothing about (and who serve on 10 other boards so g0d alone knows how they expect to add any value anyway ). Then in a couple years time you promote the people who have put in the effort to learn your business, who share your vision and are ready. Until then, you need to keep the big deals coming in.
 
McSack hit the 2mm nail smack on the head with a 20 ton hammer.

It's sooo freaking obvious that nobody can see it.
And then they have the audacity to host the anti-corruption seminar in this country.
LMAO.
 
Shame my heart bleeds for those BEE guys. they earn so little for being a black face on the board. If I were them I would shut up and take the cash I mean its what the ANC elite do anyway.
 
Now they are blaming BEE on us?!?!?! Thats weak... very weak. Grasping at straws there [-]mugabe[/-] Angelo. Learn to take responsibility for your actions like we had to for ours.
 
w1z4rd said:
Now they are blaming BEE on us?!?!?! Thats weak... very weak. Grasping at straws there [-]mugabe[/-] Angelo. Learn to take responsibility for your actions like we had to for ours.
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Who is "us" and what "responsibility" did you take for your actions?
 
BEE is a slap in the face of every black South-African.
It tells them very clearly that they will never be able to build up a successful company on their own.
The guavamint needs to pass laws to enable blacks to latch onto successful companies.
If I was a black in this country, I would be both ashamed and pi$$es of at the same time.
 
The goal of any system of reparation in this country should be take the poor and make them middle class. Then they can support themselves, educate their kids and pay taxes like the rest of us. The objective is to enable people to improve their own lives instead of waiting for handouts.
So far BEE has turned a few middle class politicians and their friends into multi millionaires, but the poor are still poor and are still a drain on our limited resources.
 
Capitalism in Safe Hands

The only surprising thing about comments made by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on BEE is that they made news.

Arguing that BEE in its current form is flawed and that it should be reviewed, Manuel spoke about companies that appointed blacks as tokens.

It is difficult to understand what the furore is all about because Manuel said the obvious. The rent-a-darkie phenomenon is quite popular in many BEE deals.

In many of these so-called BEE-empowered companies, blacks are made to be the faces who decorate the predominantly white company while they are not involved in its operations.

Some of them are quite willing to argue against real transformation in defence of the status quo. These are blacks who suffer from the “I am the only ******” syndrome.

After getting to the top, not only do they kick the stepladder away but also do nothing to advance the interests of the broader majority.

They use their jobs as a money-generating scheme, without really adding value to the business. They also argue against broad-based empowerment, saying that capitalism, by definition, benefits the elite. And given the reality that BEE critics tend to focus on fewer than 10 super-rich blacks while ignoring the thousands of white billionaires and millionaires, the criticism lacks moral value. The baby is thrown out with the bath water.

If Manuel did not say anything new, is there value in his statement? Some may argue that if Manuel has reservations about BEE, he has better platforms in government and in the ANC to raise them.

For Manuel to raise these concerns publicly smacks of populism, which may be geared towards the forthcoming ANC policy conference. As the June conference approaches, more and more politicians will engage in all sorts of gimmicks to sound radical and appeal to the ANC rank and file.

But if we give Manuel the benefit of the doubt and assume his concerns are genuine, then perhaps we should ask whether there is *anything that can be done to address the flaws in BEE.

The first point to make is that while the emerging black bourgeoisie is used as a punching bag for all BEE criticisms, the truth is that the real beneficiaries of BEE are banks, which are predominantly white entities.

A person given a stake in a company in order to get the BEE figures right is unlikely to embark on any action that may militate against the interests of his benefactors.

It is not surprising to find a black person suddenly speaking on behalf of the mining giants against royalties on revenue.

There is a popular myth that BEE was meant to benefit the black majority.

The truth is that BEE is achieving exactly what its designers sought – co-opting the black revolutionary intelligentsia to safeguard the interests of capital.

It should not be surprising that many of the beneficiaries have strong political connections with the ruling ANC.

The reason every big company desperately wants to find a partner who is also a big shot in the ANC is because of what political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki describes as insurance.

If, for instance, the ANC’s national executive committee is dominated by people who handsomely benefit from the windfalls of BEE, it is unlikely the same people will advance policies that will reverse their gains.

Big business knew of their polecat status in the eyes of the ANC and the broad liberation movement at the rendezvous of freedom. They also knew of ideals to nationalise the commanding heights of the economy, as articulated in the Freedom Charter.

They realised they needed to adapt or face extinction. They opted for adaptation.

They offered the revolutionaries of yesteryear a piece of the pie, turning them into moderates who have become staunch defenders of the system.

Capitalism is in safe hands. Its lily-white face has been darkened. The masses live in hope that they too will one day benefit. People like Manuel continue to keep the hope alive.
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Old news now Angelo. You forgot to tell us your point of view. We all know Trevor Manuel is regarded as too white to be in the running for president, so he tends to speak freely.
 
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