By Tshediso Matona, Commissioner: B-BBEE Commission
The year 2023 marked 20 years since the law for Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE Act) Act was passed to enable active measures to redress past economic injustice against black people during Apartheid, and promote inclusive economic growth from the broadest participation of the population.
Naturally, this year has witnessed much public commentary about B-BBEE, which is welcome and will continue, as 20 years of B-BBEE calls for critical reflection on whether the purpose of B-BBEE is being achieved, it being about one of most profound and defining policies of post-apartheid South Africa.
But the BEE debate has to be structured for it to be constructive, because ultimately it is about our collective future as South Africans, and it is about our identity as a nation.
An extreme view, representing minority interests but unhelpful, is that BEE has failed and must be discarded, and no credible alternative is offered for addressing continuing economic exclusion of black people.
The truth, on the other hand, is that economic transformation in South Africa is a mixed picture of important inroads in some sectors, and of stagnation in others. But fundamentally, transformation has been extremely slow, viewed from the lens of the B-BBEE Act, the lens of 30 years of democracy, and the lens of the Equality clause of the Constitution.