South African managers’ perceptions of black economic empowerment (BEE): A ‘sunset’ clause may be necessary to ensure future sustainable growth

Abstract

Transformational policies in South Africa, such as black economic empowerment (BEE), have increasingly and inextricably become part of the everyday political, economic and social life of all South Africans since the founding of the new democracy in April 1994. In this regard, South African businesses are subject to a whole array of mandatory regulations which specifically influence their operational capabilities and competitiveness to compete effectively and efficiently in both national and global markets. In a survey among 500 individual managers in South African businesses ranging from small, medium to large multinationals companies, it was found that BEE is well integrated into most of these organisations. However, the mounting resistance to and rejection of BEE that exists at management level can also increasingly be seen at the intellectual level of the population through public discourse in the daily newspapers, in which BEE is essentially viewed as a perpetuation of past injustices. The African National Congress (ANC) government must take cognisance of the negative influence that BEE has had on South Africa over the last more or less ten years and accept that a ‘sunset’ or termination clause needs to be set before too much further damage is done to the economy of the country and its world competiveness ranking.

Identifying behavioural patterns of coupled water‐agriculture systems using system archetypes

“…The ‘Shifting the Burden’ archetype is a scenario where in the face of a problem affecting the system behaviour, decision‐makers often seek quick remedial solutions, which is often subjected to invariably unintended side effects in the long‐term (Bagodi & Mahanty, 2015). The South African government introduced the Broad‐Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) frequently referred to as Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Act (53/2003) in an effort to solve the economic imbalance of the past and help create equity and equality in the economy (Janssens, Sefoko, Van Rooyen, & Bostyn, 2006; Krüger, 2014). According to this Act, all businesses with an annual turnover of R10 million or more have to implement Broad‐Based Black Economic Empowerment into their businesses.…”

The Black Industrialist Programme’s prospects to the advancement of developmental state in South Africa

“…The repurposing of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to serve corrupt leaders and the redirection of funds meant for BEE led to corruption that has culminated in the commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture, corruption and fraud in the public sector, including organs of the state (Klaaren 2021). There have also been reflections that the policy is cumbersome for businesses and thus poses a hindrance to the country's economy and prospects for transformation (Krüger 2011). This thus led to calls for the government to 'seriously reconsider its transformation agenda and specifically the adoption of BEE practices which appear to have little credibility and receive little support from the managers of companies in South Africa' (Krüger 2011:232).…”

Black economic empowerment policy in Durban, eThekwini, South Africa: economic justice, economic fraud and ‘leaving money on the table’

“…There have been few actual empirical studies of BEE (Ntim and Soobaroyen, 2013;Chopra, 2017), and even fewer which have specifically reviewed BEE in its own avowed terms, as a vehicle for economic justice and redistribution (Olivier and Bracking, 2017). Most have instead begun from the premise that BEE costs capital, and sought to test by how much (for example, Mebratie and Bedi, 2013;Kruger, 2014;Mehta and Ward, 2016;Hiam et al, 2017), or adopted the view that BEE was produced to govern resistance and enrich the political elite (Von Holdt, 2019). This research, in contrast, contributes empirically to ameliorating this research gap using a qualitative case study in eThekwini (Durban) and transcripts from 30 long semi-structured interviews with businesspeople, including with 5 BEE accreditation agencies, from 2012-2016.…”