Dr Ramphele speaks out against Black Economic Empowerment

Dr Mamphela Ramphele, who recently announced that she was setting up a new political party, Agang South Africa, has spoken out against the government policy of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).

Dr Ramphele claims that BEE operates only for a limited class of politically connected individuals to the exclusion of the majority of the population.

Dr Ramphele who recently resigned her directorships at Anglo American, Gold Fields, Remgro and MediClinic International, told South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper: “The most disappointing thing for me is that employee share schemes in the mining industry are discouraged by the department of mineral resources because they want so and so. This is the list you must empower, [they say], not the mineworkers who are actually … working in the mines.

“You would have assumed that a party that claims to be working for the people of South Africa would be very pleased to see a BEE deal that pays attention only to the workers.”

According to Ramphele only a colour blind system will work. “We [Agang] are proposing the restructuring of the economy because BEE unfortunately takes us back to having to classify people in order for them to qualify to be BEE partners.

“South Africa has to start talking to the needs of all South Africans, whether they are white, in urban or rural areas. The only way to achieve that is to restructure the economy.