Ten Propositions about Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa

Abstract

Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) has become one of the most high profile strategies of African National Congress (ANC) government. Yet BEE has also become highly controversial, critics arguing variously that it serves as a block to foreign investment, encourages a re-racialisation of the political economy, and promotes the growth of a small but remarkably wealthy politicallyconnected ‘empowerment’ elite. There is considerable substance to such analyses. However, they miss the point that BEE policies constitute a logical unfolding of strategy which is dictated by the ANC's own history, the nature of the democratic settlement of 1994 and the structure of the white-dominated economy. This paper seeks to unravel that logic through the pursuit of ten propositions. An overall conclusion is that while there is a strong case for arguing that BEE (or some similar programme to correct racial imbalances) is a political necessity, the ANC needs to do more to combine its empowerment strategies with delivery of ‘a better life for all’.

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Notes on contributors

Roger Southall

Roger Southall is Honorary Research Professor in the Sociology of Work Unit of the University of the Witwatersrand. He would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Conflict and Governance Facility Programme of the South African Treasury and of the European Union. An earlier version of this paper entitled ‘The Logic of Black Empowerment’ was published as Working Paper 2006/28 of the Danish Institute of International Studies; e-mail: [email protected].