Vodacom’s R7,5bn blacks-only empowerment deal is causing white supremacists to see red, prompting them to launch an e-mail campaign calling for customers to boycott the cellular operator in protest.<\/p>\n
Messages containing anti-Vodacom slurs are urging people to take their business to the rival networks instead, because the blacks-only offer bars white people from buying shares in its public offering.<\/p>\n
“There are some battles you can never win,” says Vodacom spokesman Dot Field. About 10 customers have contacted Field directly after receiving the e-mails.<\/p>\n
“This is a viral campaign with people saying ‘don’t support Vodacom — the black empowerment deal is racist because white people can’t participate’. If people want to be racist to that degree, it’s a war we can’t win,” she says.<\/p>\n
Field contacted other companies for advice on how to respond, and was surprised to find that other firms striking black economic empowerment (BEE) deals had also been subjected to severely critical SMS or e-mail campaigns, predominantly led by a small group of Afrikaners.<\/p>\n
The e-mails typically say: “It is a great sadness to read that the proposed empowerment deal will only be to the benefit of all black SA citizens. Being a loyal and avid customer of Vodacom since the day you opened your doors, I was extremely disappointed in the fact that yet again I will be penalised because I’m a white citizen of this country.<\/p>\n
“Personally, I find this to be blatant discrimination and totally unfair to your loyal white customer base.<\/p>\n
“To blatantly exclude white citizens is a hugely unfair decision.”<\/p>\n
And Afrikaans version says the blatant racial discrimination is affecting young people who are currently disadvantaged by being white, though they played no other part in apartheid, and the sender is changing to MTN in protest.<\/p>\n
People who complain to Vodacom directly are being sent a letter explaining its need for transformation, since the broad-based empowerment deal reflects a commercial imperative. “Vodacom sells products to businesses, government and groups which require the presentation of acceptable empowerment credentials,” it says. Because the deal was structured to comply with government codes of good practice, “we can only invite black people and black groups to participate”.<\/p>\n
Petrochemicals company Sasol drew similar flak for its plan to sell a 10% stake to black people at an 11% discount in its massive R25,9bn empowerment deal.<\/p>\n
“There are always disgruntled people. We got some e-mails and a number of phone calls,” says spokesman Johann van Rheede.<\/p>\n
Sasol was fortune that few than 20 people made their objections known. “Some were genuinely unhappy because they had been excluded, and they felt we have had enough time to change things around in the country so everybody should be entitled now,” Van Rheede says.<\/p>\n
“A couple were hardliners. We spoke to them very gently to explain that this is the new SA and we are planning to make a meaningful contribution in redressing the past.”<\/p>\n
But the dissenting voices were few and far between, he says. “We had overwhelming support for the deal from all levels of the community.”<\/p>\n
Overall, Vodacom’s R7,5bn deal involves a 6,25% stake in Vodacom SA, valuing it at R120bn. A total of 14,4m shares, or 30% of the empowerment slice, will be sold to black individuals, black groups and Vodacom’s black business partners.<\/p>\n
Group CEO Alan Knott-Craig hopes at least 50 000 individuals will buy shares in the company, which has 25m customers in SA. The only caveat, apart from skin colour, is that buyers must be able to raise at least R2 500 to apply for a minimum of 100 shares.<\/p>\n
Vodacom is unlisted and jointly owned by Telkom and the UK’s Vodafone. The only way that whites can get hold of its shares is by working there, since the share offer to its staff covers employees of any colour.<\/p>\n
That in itself initially upset some trade unionists, who though it denigrated the aims of empowerment to let white workers participate in the bounty. Black staff will receive 70% of teh internal allocation with 30% for whites, and a quarter of the shares reserved for future employees.<\/p>\n
Nedbank and MTN also drew flak from a small white minority because of their transformation, says independent analyst Reg Rumney. Yet even if people believe the blacks-only offers are racist, they are taking it out on the wrong targets. The comapanies have no option but to comply with rules set out by government.<\/p>\n
“These offers are only for black people so it is racially exclusive, but it’s mandated by law. The companies are doing deals to meet the legal requirements.”<\/p>\n
Rumney says he is not surprised that the deals have triggered a backlash. “They don’t even think about empowerment until it affects them directly and releases their resentments. It’s understandable because people have been customers for years and believe they should also be given an opportunity to buy shares.<\/p>\n
“But that’s not the point — it’s black empowerment, and that’s about empowering black people.”<\/p>\n
Rumney doubts that the malicious campaigns will result in any boycotts. “In the end, these companies stand and fall by their services and their prices. Obviously Vodacom doesn’t want to lose any customers and its white customers probably have money, but it is forced to do a deal and by offering shares to the black public it is doing it in the most participative way possible. At least it is trying to spread the shares around as much as possible.”<\/p>\n
Knott-Craig has previously said he immensely proud of the broad-based deal that would achieve sustainable black ownership of the business. “We are firmly committed to the process of achieving transformation in SA and specifically ensuring that a broad spectrum of black South Africans and black women benefit.” <\/p>\n