Black economic power policies under fire in South Africa

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2007

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — An admission by South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel that Black Economic Empowerment needs an overhaul has handed fuel to critics who say the flagship policy has only benefited an elite.

BEE was drawn up by the African National Congress government soon after it took power in 1994 in a bid to redress the economic imbalance of the apartheid era in which blacks were effectively excluded from the boardroom.

But while the emergence of leading black businessmen was initially widely hailed, complaints have grown steadily amid accusations that those who have benefited most have done so thanks to their ANC links.

"Little has changed. There is still extremely low levels of black participation in the mainstream economy," said Ibrahim Fakir,...