{"id":848481,"date":"2026-01-23T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=848481"},"modified":"2026-01-23T07:01:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:01:46","slug":"one-anc-decision-breaking-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/848481\/one-anc-decision-breaking-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"One ANC decision breaking South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is one policy decision by the ANC that has done immense and lasting damage to the country\u2019s economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been described as an \u201cunnatural economic structure\u201d that rewards political connections over merit, hollowing out entrepreneurship, distorting markets, and bankrupting state institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to Gerhard Papenfus, CEO of the National Employers\u2019 Association of South Africa (NEASA), who said<\/a><\/strong> his comments were triggered by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a discussion on Newzroom Africa about the mining sector, Mantashe claimed<\/a> that anyone who debates BEE promotes white supremacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that BEE enabled black people to become owners, executives, and managers at South African companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that white dominated parties, like the Freedom Front Plus and the Democratic Alliance, hate black economic empowerment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey hate BEE because it is changing what they were built on. They are dependent on white capacity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this, Papenfus said that he had to respond to that and just point out to the minister that he\u2019s simply wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a question of white anger. I think everybody, except those who really benefit from this scheme, doesn\u2019t like it at all. We detest it,\u201d Papenfus said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Papenfus, BEE has fundamentally distorted South Africa\u2019s economy. \u201cWe don\u2019t live in a normal economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe live in a common economy where an economic structure is created [BEE] where certain people get preference not on the basis of merit, but purely based on political alliance and colour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that compliance with BEE is not voluntary but enforced through economic coercion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you want to compete or even participate in the economy, you have to participate in this model,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papenfus said the system excludes capable businesses while inflating costs across the economy. \u201cIt excludes a huge number of businesses that can offer better quality products at better prices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is bankrupting South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Gerhard Papenfus, CEO of the National Employers\u2019 Association of South Africa (NEASA).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Papenfus called BEE an elitist system that allows only certain people to participate, and that costs the country a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed to state-owned enterprises as prime examples, and said inflated procurement costs have played a role in their collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the financial damage, Papenfus believes BEE erodes the very essence of entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you create something out of nothing, that brings a huge amount of satisfaction,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you get somebody who joins you at the top and enjoys the benefits of what you\u2019ve created, you can never enjoy the fruit of your labour in the same manner. I think that leaves you empty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that BEE creates riches, not empowerment. \u201cWe didn\u2019t empower people. We made some of them rich,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not sustainable, and money made in this way will most probably get lost.\u201d He added that such wealth teaches nothing about how value is created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The head of the Solidarity Research Institute, Connie Mulder, told<\/a> BizNews that its study shows BEE policies cost South Africa around 3% of its GDP every year in compliance costs and lost economic activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This translates into an absolute cost of around R226 billion a year, using the latest GDP data from the Reserve Bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papenfus is especially critical of what he calls \u201cparasites\u201d in the system\u2014those who gain ownership or directorships without having built anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey want to ride on the success that somebody else has built over 10, 20, 30, 40 years. They bring no benefit, make no contribution. That\u2019s a parasite,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He rejected the idea that opposition to BEE is about protecting white wealth. \u201cThat\u2019s simply wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing more that we want than to see people coming out and doing real entrepreneurship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed to the township economy as evidence that genuine transformation is already happening.\u00a0 \u201cThere we see entrepreneurs doing their thing. That\u2019s wonderful. That\u2019s real entrepreneurship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papenfus noted the solution is simple but politically difficult: scrap BEE and return to awarding contracts based on price and quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believed the country would continue paying the price for what he sees as a single catastrophic policy choice. \u201cThe country cannot afford this. It is bankrupting South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CEO of the National Employers\u2019 Association of South Africa (NEASA) says there is one policy decision by the ANC that has done immense and lasting damage to the country\u2019s economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":846294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1875,1232,853,24586],"class_list":["post-848481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-anc","tag-bee","tag-south-africa","tag-the-national-employers-association-of-south-africa-neasa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848481"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":848631,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848481\/revisions\/848631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}