Business

ANC doubles down on BEE and calls for beneficiaries to defend it

Staff Writer

 ·12 Aug 2025

The ANC has called on all beneficiaries of Black Economic Empowerment to speak out against the growing discourse against the policy and calls for its dismantling.

Hitting back at a policy document from the Democratic Alliance (DA) which called for “destructive” ANC policies like BEE and land expropriation to be removed, the former majority party came out strongly in its defence.

While it noted the “growing public discourse” surrounding the policies, and the criticism that it has only created a small political elite, it said the laws were necessary to push transformation in South Africa.

The ANC said that Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) was intended to “address historical inequalities and build a society founded on democratic principles, social justice and human rights outlined in the constitution”.

However, it acknowledged that there may have been “unintended consequences” to the laws that “may be unintentionally creating a new form of elitism”.

But instead of dismantling the laws, as the DA would like, the ANC said that research needs to be done to see whether BEE has been doing what it is supposed to, with “actionable insights” to carry the policies forward.

“The ANC reiterates that B-BBEE, in terms of our democratic framework, is designed to benefit black South Africans,” it said.

“That is Africans, Coloured and Indians, and further extends benefits to white women, who were also historically marginalised in economic participation.”

The party said that analysis from 2023 and 2024 showed that the policies were doing good for black South Africans, with around R112 billion over the period being invested in black businesses, training and economic participation.

For this to continue, those who benefit from BEE should come out to defend it, it said.

It added that all beneficiaries, whether professionals, business owners or workers, should speak out against those who want BEE gone.

“We call on all South Africans who have benefitted from these measures, including those appointed to various positions in the private sector, to stand in defence of their own gains and reject any political agenda aimed at reversing progress made,” the party said.

Calls for BEE to go

The ANC’s BEE policies face a long and growing list of critics, particularly among business groups and even researchers.

The most pertinent criticism of the policies is that a few politically-connected individuals got the lion’s share of benefits from the laws, with crumbs going to the wider population.

According to research by Prof. William Gumede of the Wits School of Governance, a conservative estimate is that about R1 trillion has been moved between fewer than 100 people since 1994 under BEE.

“South Africa’s BEE model has created a model of corruption because people set up companies just to get a contract,” he said. “The same people have been empowered and re-empowered over and over.”

Further research by the Free Market Foundation (FMF) and the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI) showed that BEE has also been more widely destructive for the economy.

The groups argued that South African corporations forego 2% to 4% of turnover in direct BEE compliance costs, and that over nearly two decades, the cumulative drag on growth amounts to more than R5 trillion in lost economic activity.

The policies not only make it expensive to operate in South Africa, but the proceeds only benefit a few politically connected elite, while destroying growth and jobs.

The DA repeated these lines this week, saying that the ANC’s decades of mismanagement of South Africa’s economy, underpinned by policies like BEE, have hamstrung the country’s growth.

The party said that this resulted in over a decade of economic stagnation, where GDP per capita has declined, while the unemployment rate has remained one of the highest in the world.

The policy has also gained international attention, with the United States singling it out as a key impediment to better relations with South Africa, and a deterrent to investment.