BEE to end in 10 years?

how long is south africa's black economic empowerment (bee) policy set to last?

as the department of trade and industry gets ready to launch the second phase of its bee codes of good practice, both black and white will be asking whether the government's bee policy, aimed at redistributing wealth and correcting the economic imbalances of the past, really does have a sell-by date on it or not.

presently whites who make up under 10% of the population continue to run well over half the south african economy.

targets outlined in the department of trade and industry's bee codes of good practice are dated 2015, which some point out is a clear indication of when the policy is set to expire.

yet government could always reintroduce the policy under a new name when it expires, as in the case of the malaysian government, who in 1990 simply extended its pioneering 20-year-old affirmative action programme, the new economic policy, when it came to an end.

but director of bee at the department of trade and industry, jeffrey ndumo, says the department intends on holding a review on bee 10 years from now, which will determine whether the department is satisfied with the policy's achievements or not.

ndumo is hopeful that the review will also, importantly include preferential procurement, as government is busy aligning the preferential procurement policy framework act (pppfa) with the bee act.

he states government doesn't intend relying on the existence of bee indefinitely, because it favours the rule of freemarket economy.

but he points out that the success of bee will depend largely on the private sector and their readiness and speed at which they adopt the policy.

the department is currently conducting a study to determine the performance of bee, which will form the baseline for the review intended in 10 years time, he says.

reg rumney of bee think tank businessmap, believes that further debate about what the outcomes of bee should look, should be encouraged.

though positive about the intentions of bee, he says more thought needs to go into the type of society south africans envisage bee will create in 10 or more years.

“the real danger is that bee will continue as it is entrenching a black middle class and not solving the poverty problem,” he says, adding that the policy may also result in rent-seeking behaviour, as in the case of the malaysian example where previously undermined malay contractors simply sold off tenders to their indigenous chinese counterparts.

business owner thomas ngobeni who runs gaza security services, says bee should only be abandoned once fair competition between white-owned and black-owned companies has been established. he believes the government has been very slow to adopt bee.

another business owner, mike jessop, who runs cape town engineering company hydra, believes 10 years is enough time for the policy to take effect.

cautions jessop: “ i hope that what they're (government) doing now has a fixed time frame”.

but maabo motlohofi who runs maabo maruni catering décor events, believes the policy of bee should be scrapped. questions motlohofi, “until how long should people be bee”?

motlohofi explains that she justs wants to be regarded as a business person. “i'm totally against it, it sounds very bias. it diminishes me. it destroys me.” her 10 year old company does 85% of its work with government.