w1z4rd
Karmic Sangoma
Short-changed fund members ask to be defined as ‘African’
By KIM HELFRICH
THREE members of a provident society have officially requested reclassification as “African” to benefit from a black economic empowerment (Bee) scheme.
Their action comes just weeks after a Gauteng man told traffic officers he had changed his name to an African one to benefit from Bee.
AfriForum chief executive Kallie Kriel is one of the three who have written to the Professional Provident Society requesting reclassification as “African”.
This was done because the Society has indicated its existing “white” policy-holders will in future have their profits reduced by 10% to finance a Bee transaction.
In terms of its classification, 18% of policy-holders are “black”.
Kriel explained: “To achieve the 25% Bee target, the Society has to decrease existing policy-holders’ participation in profits.
“The society uses the Bee guideline that only Africans, coloureds and Indians qualify as Bee policy-holders”, he said.
“I asked for and could not be given a definition or criterion by which an objective determination of who was ‘African’ could be made”.
Kriel said there was “no legal framework for racial classification.
“Seen in the context of the Society’s decision, self-classification is the only option. Therefore, I and two other members want to be classified as ‘African’,” declared Kriel.
Link