The backlash against Malatsi’s move says more about political point-scoring in the GNU than it does about the legitimacy of equity programmes.
There is an interesting irony about the angry allegations that DA Communications Minister Solly Malatsi wants to bypass broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) rules to allow Elon Musk’s Starlink to operate in SA.
Malatsi’s proposals are not only not new, they are an accepted black economic empowerment strategy which has the approval of the department of trade, industry and competition… and which has been applied to investments here by some of the world’s biggest, US-headquartered companies, including Microsoft, IBM and Amazon.
The equity equivalent investment programmes (EEIPs) cited by Malatsi have been in operation since the B-BBEE Act of 2003 came into force.
The programmes allow companies to invest in skills development or black-owned small businesses, instead of having to sell shares… and earn B-BBEE points.
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That communications portfolio chair Khusela Diko seeming unaware of the policy implemented by her own ANC party is worrying – because it either means she is ignorant, or is trying to score political points against the DA in the government of national unity (GNU).
In the broader picture, though, Malatsi’s actions will be seen as more “betrayal” by the ANC and others in the GNU who are as ignorant about EEIPs as is Diko.
The DA is already seen as trying to undermine the ANC by fighting the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act and in pushing back vigorously against the expropriation without compensation policy.
It hasn’t helped that DA ministers like Siviwe Gwarube (basic education); Leon Schreiber (home affairs) and Dean Macpherson (public works) have been conveying the image of getting things done.
EEIPs are in operation already, so why the big deal? The positive aspect about the concept is that it can bring genuine empowerment, rather than mere cadre enrichment.
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