Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau says the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) policy remains a critical component of South Africa’s constitutional democracy and the process of rebuilding the country.

The Minister said this when he was in conversation about the overall state of the South African economy and global trading environment at the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation Legacy Breakfast session in Pretoria.

Tau said the people of South Africa would attain freedom once they have been freed from the bondage of economic discrimination. 

“South Africa remains an unequal society. It’s just a reality for our country and until we’ve addressed that challenge, we do need redress measures as an economy.  The issues we need to address are what have been the limitations in implementation, and the truth is that they’ve been on both the policy and execution sides,” Tau said.

“We need to address the specific gaps where application results in a watered-down version of B-BBEE. Instead of dismissing the need for B-BBEE, shouldn’t we be strengthening our policy and implementation instruments to ensure we measure output and outcome. 

“Shouldn’t we be asking questions like how do we reach more people at the level of participation, how do we ensure access to capital,” the Minister said. 

He conceded that some of the challenges that should be addressed in the review process currently taking place are issues about equity and participation in B-BBEE transactions to ensure a wider reach, building industrialisation and industrial capacity amongst black entrepreneurs.

Tau said that it was clear that South Africa was on a path of growth in an environment of renewed economic optimism.