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IOL News
6 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Cosatu: The importance of BBBEE in addressing inequality in SA
Unsplash BBBEE is merely one tool, among many, to address the legacies of the past and the inequalities of today. This is a key prescript of the Constitution and an obligation of the state to society, the writer says. Image: Unsplash Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) remains an important tool to address our deeply ingrained levels of inequality. It would be strange for any democratic government of a nation emerging from three hundred and fifty years of the most brutal and institutionalised forms of discrimination that left over 90% of society consigned to the most poorly paid form of manual labour, not to embrace state supported economic empowerment programme. It would have been tantamount to endorsing South Africa's status as the world's most unequal society, something clearly the fringe right wing extremists wish for. BBBEE is merely one tool, among many, to address the legacies of the past and the inequalities of today. This is a key prescript of the Constitution and an obligation of the state to society. BBBEE in short seeks to give a fair opportunity to millions historically denied such due to their race, gender or disability. People, in particular the race baiting fringe right wing, ignore its inclusivity. BBBEE includes Africans, Coloureds, Indians, plus women, workers and persons with disabilities of all races. In short it covers about 97% of society! BBBEE is not just the 30% shareholding option but also equity equivalents where investors can offer similar investments supporting local companies, creating jobs and investing in communities. All equally important. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading It includes Employee Shareholder or Worker Ownership Programmes (ESOPs). This has been an initiative COSATU and many unions have championed. In the recent past few years, it has seen over 550 000 workers become shareholders in their companies. This has given them a stake in the companies' well-being and growth, but also crucially put money in their pockets. Some critics lament that BBBEE has failed and must be scrapped. Yet they are silent on its role in creating a growing Black middle class. They deride efforts to create Black industrialists yet miss the point of their role in opening factories and companies, and the jobs these create in local communities. Is BBBEE perfect? Of course not. Does it need to be adjusted, lessons learned, mistakes corrected? Without a doubt. Cosatu does have many concerns with the implementation of BBBEE, notwithstanding appreciating its successes in many instances. BBBEE does need to be adjusted to learn from challenges experienced, to avoid repeating them and to ensure its progressive objectives reach those most in need of empowerment, the millions of working class residents living in townships, informal areas, rural towns and villages across the nation. A discussion needs to be had about the once empowered, always empowered notion. Do we want BBBEE to continue to benefit those already empowered? Or can it be adjusted to prioritise those still in need of empowerment? How can this be practically done? An elegant solution is needed lest BBBEE be dismissed as benefiting only the wealthy. How can SMMEs, especially emerging ones, and particularly those in townships and rural areas, be elevated? We should not continue to normalise township and rural economies to be composed of taxis, petrol stations, hawkers and taverns alone. An inclusive targeted approach to these communities where the overwhelming majority of South Africans live, is needed. Can more be done to eliminate fronting where White South Africans merely add the name of a Black employee or partner to their ownership papers or where a Black owned company simply imports goods from Asia? BBBEE is not about names on a letter head. It is meant to reach those in need of empowerment. It cannot be about enriching importers when we need to elevate local procurement and give support to local businesses, Black and White, and not sacrifice them in pursuit of cheap imports. Public procurement with an annual budget of over R1 trillion, from departments to municipalities, entities and State-Owned Enterprises, has a key role to play in supporting BBBEE and more critically making sure it reaches those who need it, not the nouveau riche. The recently assented to Public Procurement Act elevating this important objective across the state will be an important boost in this regard. Public representatives across the three spheres of government need to hold the executives accountable in this regard. The private sector too, in particular large mining, manufacturing, financial and other well-resourced sectors with large procurement budgets, need to provide more solidarity and support to local companies, in particular BBBEE compliant ones. This is key not only to transformation and empowerment, but also to boosting localisation and stimulating badly needed economic growth and tackling unemployment. Whilst Cosatu supports the thrust of BBBEE, the heart of our support and in fact our passion, lays in ramping up ESOPS or Worker Ownership Programmes. We want workers to live a better life, to boost their earnings, to have more money to pay their debts, to feed their families and to buy the goods local companies produce and thus spur economic growth and sustain and create more jobs. We want workers to become co-owners of their companies as this gives them a stake in their success and a direct motive to boost productivity and again spur economic growth and sustain and create jobs. We want to end the still painfully prevalent apartheid scars that are the feature of almost every township, village and community. We want workers, African, Coloured, Indian, White, women and with disabilities, to be co-owners in this economy, including on the JSE. We want this better life now, not in some indeterminate future promised on a Jpeg by irrelevant populists. Workers are the backbone of the economy. They have made South Africa the industrial hub of the economy. Many have grown wealthy off of their sweat and blood, it is time that this wealth is shared with the working class. ESOPs are a critical path to doing that. BBBEE is not perfect, but its objectives remain as valid today as they were in 1994. Adjustments are needed, in particular to make sure the SMMEs in our townships, local manufacturers, and most importantly workers are elevated and prioritised at all times. Solly Phetoe is the General Secretary of Cosatu. Solly Phetoe is general secretary of Cosatu. Image: Doctor Ngcobo / Independent Newspapers.
IOL News
15-05-2025
- Health
- IOL News
Inkosi Albert Luthuli: A victim of racial segregation in South African healthcare
A reopened inquest into Inkosi Albert Luthuli's death on July 21, 1967 is being held at the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Image: Independent Media Archives Had he not been a black person, the critically injured Inkosi Albert Luthuli would have been given better treatment and his life would possibly have been saved at the racially divided Stanger Provincial Hospital, Dr Sibusiso Johannes Nsele said on Thursday. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health's senior forensic pathologist was continuing to give evidence at the reopened inquest into the cause of Luthuli's death held at the Pietermaritzburg High Court. He said that in the years of Luthuli's life and after his death, the hospital, like all government institutions in the country, applied policies of racial segregation. Responding to a question from evidence leader Advocate Ncedile Dunywa from the National Prosecuting Authority that Luthuli, who was partly unconscious on arrival at the hospital, should have been given better medical care than what he was offered, Nsele said, 'Yes, that is correct'. Luthuli died at Stanger Provincial Hospital a few hours after he was found semi-conscious on the morning of July 21, 1967, on the railway bridge of the Mvoti River in Groutville, Stanger. The findings of an initial inquiry held the same year Luthuli died, stated that Luthuli was involved in a fatal goods steam train accident. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ However, several witnesses, including experts in various fields, who testified at the current inquest, have rejected the claim, saying Luthuli's injuries indicated that he was assaulted before being placed on the bridge. Nsele said during the apartheid system, the hospital was divided into two sections - one 'which was for a particular race (white) and the other sections, which also belonged to different race groups (Africans, Coloureds and Indians)'. He painted a scenario of the medical team at the hospital that neglected their duties of giving Luthuli urgent attention, even after they had realised the severity of his injuries. An ambulance brought Luthuli to the hospital at 11.45 am, where he was immediately attended to by senior medical superintendent Dr Gwendoline Mary Gregarsan, who was not a specialist in the field of neurosurgery. Luthuli was only attended to by neurosurgeon Dr Mauritus J. Joubert at 2.20 pm, which was five minutes before he passed away at 2.25 pm. 'When one looked at the time at which Inkosi (Luthuli) was admitted, from the records, Dr Gregarsan immediately attended to Inkosi, the description from the records were that there were many injuries around the head, and she further made an observation that there was a scalp fracture. 'That alone would have guided her to realise that immediate care at a specialist level was required. 'The expectation would have been that the neurosurgeon, Dr Joubert, would have been consulted much earlier, soon after Dr Gregarsan had assessed the patient,' he said. When Dunywa asked him if that meant that Luthuli's life would have been saved had it not been for the effect of the apartheid government's racial segregation, Nsele said he was aware that state resources in various spheres, including in the health sector, were not dispersed equally (among racial groups). 'The funding with regard to services and resources that would be given to the African or black communities was inferior to that given to the European or white communities,' said Nsele. On Thursday, Nsele said Luthuli's condition required that he be transferred to the better-equipped King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban. Both hospitals are 83,4 km and an hour away from each other. 'Stanger Provincial Hospital was not, and even as we speak today, suited to manage patients who need neurosurgeons,' he said. Nsele said Dr Gregarsan was, according to the records, aware that Luthuli's conditions needed to be handled by a neurosurgeon, which was not available at Stanger Hospital. 'The injuries he had sustained warranted that he receive specialised care. 'But Chief Albert Luthuli was nevertheless made to remain at Stanger Provincial Hospital,' Dunywa said. Nsele concurred with Dunywa's observation that at Stanger Hospital, Luthuli was not given proper care while he was alive and even after he had died, as the medical practitioners did not do due diligence in handling him. Nsele said that Dr Jakobus Johannes van Zyle, who was junior doctor at the time, had 90 minutes after declaring Luthuli dead, hurriedly produced a postmortem report, which was substandard.
The Citizen
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Whites continue to dominate top management roles
Foreign nationals take up 2.8% of top leadership positions. The Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour has expressed serious concerns about the sluggish pace of progress in implementing employment equity across various sectors. During a briefing on Wednesday, the Department of Employment and Labour's progress report, committee members noted that despite legislative efforts, transformation at the top management level remains notably slow. Slow progress in top management Based on 29 269 quality employment equity submissions covering a workforce of 7 699 665 employees during the 2024 reporting period, the report highlighted stark disparities in workforce composition at senior levels. Whites continue to dominate top management positions, making up 61.1% of leadership roles nationally, while Africans represent just 18%, Indians 11.9%, and Coloureds 6.2%. Foreign nationals account for 2.8% of top management positions. The figures suggest a lack of significant movement towards equitable representation at senior levels, with several provinces showing stagnation. In the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and Free State, the proportion of White individuals in top management remains particularly high, at 56%, 54%, and 54%, respectively. ALSO READ: 'Can you imagine our system being hacked': MPs sceptical of IEC's e-voting proposal Committee chairperson expresses disappointment Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour, Boyce Maneli, criticised the failure of voluntary compliance to achieve meaningful transformation. 'The report vindicates our long-held view that voluntary compliance with employment equity provisions has not worked,' Maneli said. However, he noted that the Employment Equity Amendment Act of 2022, specifically Section 15A, offers hope for more stringent enforcement. The Act is designed to ensure that employment equity aligns with the Constitution and international labour standards, aiming for a fairer, more inclusive workforce. ALSO READ: Big changes coming for ID, passport applications and birth registrations – Home Affairs Foreign nationals Maneli also emphasised the need to address the employment of foreign nationals within South Africa's legal framework. While acknowledging that certain sectors may require foreign skills, he stressed that the country's unemployment crisis must take priority when filling semi-skilled and unskilled positions. 'With the highest number of unemployment, jobs at semi-skilled and unskilled levels must be given to South Africans, especially those who are registered on the unemployment database of the department,' said Maneli. He also pointed out that employers hiring foreign nationals for scarce skills must demonstrate a skills transfer plan to ensure local workers benefit from these positions. The committee will further explore the issue of foreign national employment in a joint meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs and the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry, and Competition. NOW READ: FF Plus defends Afrikaner-only enclaves Orania and Kleinfontein, accuses EFF of being the real threat
