The Mercury’s (March 3) fervent appeal for perpetuating BEE is based on the very ideology it has always renounced, namely, racial discrimination, ironically, in the belief that undoing racial discrimination can be achieved by promoting more of it.
There is only one way of promoting fairness and that is by applying merit to all decisions. Significantly, while strenuously promoting BEE as being fair, The Mercury’s editorial is silent about the demographic quota system, which automatically excludes vast numbers of minorities from consideration for positions.
The practice of fronting is always an indicator of bad law. Stifling business opportunities through BEE regulations promotes frustration and the willingness to find ways around those obstacles. Without BEE, fronting would not be necessary. Yet The Mercury wants “stronger rules” to police BEE. Whenever governments seek to dictate who does business with whom, the result always impedes economic progress, retards the potential growth of prosperity and the growth of the tax base.
The Mercury asserts that BEE has enabled many black professionals to progress. In a merit-based system, those individuals would have progressed anyway. Carping about banks not being helpful to blacks is difficult to swallow because the top positions of most banks are held by blacks.
It is both ironic and sad that in the post-apartheid era when non-racialism is supposed to be holy writ, obsession with colour has never been greater. BEE is one of the monuments of that obsession. The Labour laws constitute another Byzantine edifice. White people face 142 laws that discriminate against them. Overlooked in this situation is the reality that the welfare of the majority depends on the security of the minorities.
The other great irony of post-apartheid South Africa is that minority rule is back in the saddle. In that just 15% of blacks have benefited from BEE, they and the tight network of comrades, cadres and cronies, all bound up with the ANC elite, means that majority rule is a farce. If that were not so, black unemployment would not have tripled since 1994, and squatter camps would not be the failure that Joe Slovo wished to avoid.
Finally, by ignoring the research of Professor William Gumede of Wits, who has noted the expense of R1 trillion on BEE deals which have had no effect on the standard of living of the majority of blacks, The Mercury’s case for more BEE is a non-starter.
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