BEE in our bonnet

After 17 years of democracy and the promise of a land handover to blacks, only 7% of the land has been redistributed -- and it is said that 90% of agricultural development projects on this land have failed. It will take us at least 100 years at the current pace to return the promised 30% of land. At the same time farm workers are underpaid, overworked and suffer all kinds of gross human rights violations. The South African agricultural sector is driven by a racial feudal system under which black workers are mere ­factors of production and the environment is disrespected and harmed. This system can best be described as a commitment to the principle of "profits before people".

AgriBEE was designed to "bring in" black players to reap the benefits of slave labour. Conceptually AgriBEE was designed as a new avenue of accumulation by politically connected elites who skim the fat off the land. AgriBEE funds have been siphoned off through blatant corruption -- news reports have revealed how money meant for enterprise development has ended up buying soccer teams and being invested in golf courses. BEE has increasingly been associated with corruption. Corruption is not an aberration but a constitutive element of capitalism.
A related element of these legalised thieving practices is the general treatment of black workers, which has not improved under black-owned enterprises. Often it has worsened. Power relationships on farms have to be altered through the massive redistribution of land to the landless. The primary beneficiaries of the agricultural sector's transformation must be the farm workers to whom the Freedom Charter had promised that "the land shall be owned by those who work it". This transformation is impossible in the present frenzied state of white agricultural moguls, politically connected AgriBEE players and aspirants just aiming to make a quick buck.

20% of South Africans suffer an acute lack of food security. It highlights the priorities of the agriculture sector - maximisation of profit through exporting produce -- to the European Union and elsewhere.

Taken from here

Black Empowerment - or - Crony Capitalism

The Economist carries an article on South Africa's Post-Apartheid policy of “black economic empowerment” (BEE).

Instead of redistributing wealth and positions to the black majority, it has resulted mainly in “a few individuals benefiting a lot,” President Jacob Zuma says.The richest 4% of South Africans — a quarter of whom are black — now earn more than $80,000 a year, 100 times what most of their compatriots live on.

The idea of legislating for black economic empowerment was originally promoted by big white businessmen to ward off post-apartheid calls for nationalisation. If a few well-connected black people were given chunks of the action, big business would, they hoped, be left alone. In that sense, BEE has been a roaring success, as whites still own the bulk of the country’s wealth. Whites still hold three-quarters of senior jobs in private business whereas blacks have 12%, the exact reverse of their share in the working population. Among the 295 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), blacks account for just 4% of chief executive officers, 2% of chief financial officers and 15% of other senior posts. In non-executive ones, they do a bit better, accounting for just over a quarter of board chairmen and 36% of directors.

Riches thru the labour of others

Socialist Banner has said it , now COSATU says it .


"the black bourgeoisie benefits on the sweat of workers through BEE companies."

Black Power

Africa has two new billionaires , both of whom are black. But Africa's richest men, according to the Forbes rich list, remain two white South Africans who inherited their wealth. They have now been joined by a Nigerian industrialist who seems to be in every industry going and a black South African mine magnate . But with only four entries on the list Africa remains the continent with the fewest mega-rich citizens. You need at least $1.3bn to get on the Forbes list.

Aliko Dangote is Nigerian and has built a $3.3bn fortune from a loan from his uncle.
In a little over 25 years, Mr Dangote has built an empire that includes the number one sugar production company in the country, a cement factory and a virtual monopoly on the production of pasta in Nigeria. His company bought two refineries in the last days of the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, but the sale was cancelled by the new president Umaru Yar'Adua, after allegations that due process was not followed. Last year Mr Dangote told the BBC about his close connections with government.
"If we don't have the right people there then all the money I have is useless."

The second newcomer is South African Patrice Motsepe.
The lawyer who bought several unprofitable gold mines and turned them round, now has a fortune of $2.4bn. Born in the township of Soweto, he moved from being the first black partner at Bowman Gilfillan law firm in Johannesburg to running a mining contract firm after Apartheid collapsed. His African Rainbow Minerals now has annual sales of $875 million. Forbes says Mr Motsepe took full advantage of the Black Economic Empowerment laws that require mining firms to be over a quarter black-owned.

Two white South Africans remain on the list:
Nicky Oppenheimer and family own De Beers and are worth $5.7bn.
Johann Rupert and his family head Swiss luxury goods group Richemont. This includes the Cartier label and their fortune has dipped to $3.8bn

From Liberator To Exploiter- Comrade Capitalist

Mosima Gabriel ("Tokyo") Sexwale - former South African liberation fighter turned business tycoon . He was recruited to the ANC underground by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the early 1970s, went for military training in the former Soviet Union and was infiltrated back into the country in the aftermath of the Soweto youth uprising in June 1976. Sexwale inflicted the first injuries on government forces when he threw a hand grenade at police while entering South Africa from Swaziland. He was caught, went on trial . He was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment and dispatched to join Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners on Robben Island.

Released from prison in 1990, he rose to prominence in the ANC, becoming chairman of the party in Gauteng province and then in 1994 , the first premier of Gauteng.

A newspaper last year listed his investments as worth R978 million (U.S.$143 million), but informal estimates place it at as much as R6 billion. Sexwale founded Mvelaphanda Holdings , a company of which he is still executive chairman. Mvelaphanda is primarily focused on the mining, energy and related sectors. Some of Sexwale's main interests are oil and diamond mining, for which he has been granted concessions across Africa and Russia; these interests are controlled by a subsidiary of Mvelaphanda Holdings called Mvelaphanda Resources, of which he is chairman. Sexwale holds positions in many international organizations, such as President of the South African/Russian Business, Technological and Cultural Association and Vice President of the South African/Japanese Business Forum. He is also an Honorary Consul General of Finland in South Africa.

How was his cash made ?- Black Economic Empowerment (BEE)

Designed to put more of the economy in black hands, in part by forcing the country's largest industries to set targets for training more black workers, promoting more black managers, using more black-owned suppliers and--this is where the controversy comes in--selling ownership stakes to black capitalists. Big firms that want to do business with the state must now file a BEE scorecard to prove they are promoting "previously disadvantaged individuals," including blacks, mixed-race "coloreds" and Indians. Since government spending is some $20 billion a year, or about 20% of GDP, it's a deal not many companies can afford to pass up.
A handful of prominent and well-connected black South Africans--Macozoma, Motsepe, Ramaphosa and Sexwale among them--recognized the opportunity that presented. As South Africa's biggest companies rushed to meet their BEE requirements, they often turned to the same small group of black capitalists, offering to sell or grant equity stakes at favorable terms, often financed by the companies themselves, in return for connections, expertise and links to the black marketplace.

“You need to be palatable and acceptable to your white business, because white business still holds the purse strings, and Tokyo Sexwale is extremely palatable,” says Alec Hogg, South Africa's leading financial analyst and broadcaster.“I think he found the right people to back him. He found one of the leading banks in South Africa, which has virtually given him an open checkbook. And as a consequence of that, he's been able to put together a number of deals - many, many deals in many different areas of the economy.”

Tsediso Phofu, another political prisoner on Robben Island, who was in the same cellblock as Sexwale , founded a school for the mentally disabled, but still makes less than $500 a month, and lives in this one-room apartment with his wife and daughter. He says Black Empowerment hasn't benefited him one bit.

“I feel I've been abandoned. I feel somehow you even regret that what it is that we fought for. Why were you fighting the struggle, for the nation, or for certain individuals to be rich? Meanwhile, you remain in poverty,” says Phofu .

Now Tokyo Sexwale is lobbying for the leadership of the ANC and effectively the presidency of South Africa .