It is a tragedy that the ANC and its secretary general get any press at all. It has been years since the ANC was vaguely relevant. What is amusing though is the level of Cyril-bashing that we are seeing more regularly in the press. Vernon Wessels did not spare any niceties in his recent editorial in Currency.
Now, President Cyril Ramaphosa wants everyone to gather round once again and discuss the woes bedevilling our economy in his National Dialogue.
Sorry to break it to you, bud, but it’s you, and your party of thieves, the ANC’s outdated policies and ideologies, its dodgy human-rights-violating friends, incompetent cadres put in positions to plunder rather than resource the institutions they lead, and your inability to do anything other than spew promises that never get delivered on.
This is the only type of press coverage that the ANC should receive. Tragically the report back from the last ANC’s (somewhat disastrous) NEC meeting was widely reported. One glaring headline screamed – ANC doubles down on BEE. The same article ironically (and without evidence because there is none) concludes with a typical Mbalula platitude. “These empowerment measures have opened pathways for millions of South Africans into business ownership, corporate leadership, and skilled employment.”
Grandiose grandstanding and ultimately irrelevant, just like the party he attempts to represent. I have been a black economic empowerment observer, commentator and consultant for more than two decades and can state with some form of authority that the ANC has no idea what BEE involves. They have never had any idea, even though their SACP apparatchik Rob Davies drafted the awful BEE codes for them 13 years ago.
To give the reader a ballpark figure of the cost of BEE compliance, and with taking a few liberties, this is what I think BEE compliance costs per year
- Small company turning over between R10m and R50m with no significant black ownership. Between R100k and R200k (annual cost)
- Massive company like a bank – R1.5bn, two thirds of which would need to be spent on skills development (annual cost)
These figures mean nothing to Mbalula and his NEC. Their understanding of empowerment is purely limited to ownership. Cynics would say that the emphasis on ownership is designed to enrich their many cadres, with lucrative BEE deals, the likes of which transformed the ANC president into the billionaire he is today. I’m not sure that that’s entirely true. There’s no doubt that there is a greedy cohort who would love to get their hands on 30% of Starlink, but they are in the minority. The real money lies in state tenders, where the returns are extraordinary because delivery is not a requirement.
I’m willing to wager Cyril’s next dividend cheque that almost everyone of the privileged few have never gone anywhere near a BEE scorecard. If there is a requirement for BEE then they will inevitably sign an affidavit that states that the bidding company turned over less than R50m in the previous year (if it indeed had a trading history) and the tender is theirs.
What is BEE to the ANC? It’s a wealth generating system that provides the connected with an easy access to state money. As to the development of the rest of the country. That’s not their problem, First National Bank et al can look after that.
I don’t think we need to pay any attention to the ANC mouthing off about BEE. It’s not them who will decide whether BEE stays or goes. The decision will come from the private sector that is rapidly losing interest in the process. It took 10 years to get rid of eTolls, I have my doubts whether BEE’s life will extend beyond 2030.