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IOL News
13-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Cosatu defends B-BBEE policy amid criticism from Solidarity and FMF
The Free Market Foundation and Solidarity held a media briefing on Thursday to discuss the impact of Black Economic Empowerment legislation on the economy. Image: Supplied Banele Ginidza The battle for the scrapping of "race laws" in South Africa went a notch up on Thursday as the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) shot down a call to review and drop South Africa's Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) policy. This comes as trade union Solidarity and the Free Market Foundation (FMF) on Thursday released a report claiming that B-BBEE has caused serious damage to the country's economy and to its population while only enriching a small, politically-connected elite. The report draws on data from the B-BBEE Commission, Stats SA, the JSE, and international comparisons to assess the real costs of compliance across the key BEE scorecard elements: ownership, skills development, enterprise and supplier development, management control, and socio-economic development. According to the report, the annual cost of BEE compliance is between R145 billion and R290bn per year. It claimed that this has resulted in an annual reduction of 1.5% to 3% in economic growth, and to an annual loss of between 96 000 and 192 000 jobs. 'Our findings show that BEE, as currently designed, is enriching a small elite while throttling economic dynamism and deepening unemployment,' said Dr Morné Malan, FMF senior associate and co-author of the report, speaking at the joint press conference. The study compares South Africa's model with global 'affirmative action' policies in Malaysia, India, Brazil, the US, and Namibia, showing that South Africa's version is the most intrusive and economically damaging. At the media briefing, the organisations claimed that B-BBEE benefits largely captured by politically-connected elites as South Africa now ranks 139th in GDP per capita, down from 87th in 1994. Executives of both organisations said the people most affected by the current economic programme are people that work poor people and those that are beneficiaries are the elite. "That is why we will engage with Cosatu trade unions Numsa and others to find alternatives to the current racial legislation," said Theuns du Buisson, economic researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute, and co-author of the report. "In the second place we will continue to litigate and in the third place we will also put pressure on SA via the international world and continue to put pressure on South Africa with the outside world especially the G20 that comes." However, Cosatu's Parliamentary spokesperson Matthew Parks said the report provided no breakdown backed up by actual research as to any financial burden to the state nor how B-BBEE has been an obstacle to growing the economy and reducing unemployment. Parks said the report strangely cited statistics related to real and potential growth overall, but no evidence of the relationship between those and B-BBEE. He said it may as well have blamed constitutional democracy for South Africa's economic challenges. "No reference is made to the need to overcome our still prevalent racial divides as evidenced by countless employment equity studies confirming that most senior positions in the private sector are held by White males or that economic ownership, including shares on the JSE remain largely White-held," Parks said. Johann Rossouw, an economist at Altitude Wealth, said a more sensible empowerment model as an alternative to B-BBEE policies was Black Economic Skills Transfer (BEST), which would help with job creation and carry the economy into the future. "At the moment all the arguments are about how many ways to cut the existing pie instead of growing the pie that we have for the future. Black empowerment is not a policy of the government of national unity," Rossouw said, commending that the study was evidence based and drew comparison with other countries. "It is important that the GNU makes its own policies that will benefit the average poor." However, independent economist Duma Gqubule said the study and the report was fake news on steroids, which lacked the fundamental understanding of the objectives of transformation. Gqubule said the report lacked empirical evidence and was premised on companies counting upskilling workers for an example as a transformation contribution when both the worker and the company benefited from the exercise. "I would call on black business to come up with a coherent response to this. It is a dangerous agenda. We need another citizen dialogue on black empowerment for the new circumstances as the situation in the 1990s when the policies were crafted were critical," Gqubule said. BUSINESS REPORT
The Citizen
10-06-2025
- Health
- The Citizen
New Tzaneen healthcare centre approved by council
TZANEEN – A new healthcare centre is set to be established in Tzaneen, as announced during the seventh Greater Tzaneen Municipality (GTM) Council sitting held on Thursday, May 29. Cllr Collen Mathebula revealed that the upcoming medical facility will include specialists such as oncologists and ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists. According to Mathebula, the new centre will not only benefit residents of Tzaneen but also serve surrounding Mopani areas, including Giyani, Phalaborwa, Hoedspruit, and others. He added that the project is expected to create much-needed job opportunities for locals. However, the announcement sparked debate. Ward 15 Democratic Alliance (DA) Cllr Chrizelle Dreyer objected to the proposal, arguing that Tzaneen already has sufficient medical infrastructure. 'We have Mediclinic and the newly opened Tzaneen Health Care Hub. I understand we may lack oncologists, but another centre is unnecessary,' she said. Despite her objections, no further opposition was raised, and the proposal for the new healthcare centre was adopted by the council. In other council matters, chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC), Ngaoko Maunatlala, provided updates on ongoing municipal projects across all 35 GTM wards. He highlighted serious delays with the Petanenge pedestrian crossing bridge, reporting that the project was only 11% complete as of MPAC's latest site visit. The bridge construction began on November 17, 2024, and was scheduled for completion in April 2025. With significant delays already evident, Maunatlala questioned why the contractor was allowed to continue working despite the poor progress. He called on the mayor, the speaker, the chief whip, and the head of infrastructure to visit the site themselves, and recommended that the current contractor be removed from the project. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) echoed their disappointment over the bridge delays and urged the council to take swift action. Meanwhile, Thabo Maunatlala, speaking on behalf of Mayor Gerson Molapisane, announced that the municipality currently has R145 million in self-generated funds, which are being used to finance various development projects. He also reported that electricity tariffs are expected to increase by 12.7% over the next three years, while sewerage charges will rise by 4.4%. Although Molapisane was scheduled to deliver his budget speech during the council sitting, he announced that it would instead be presented on June 12. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
The South African
26-05-2025
- Business
- The South African
2 seaside towns in SA where households earn R100K on average
A 2025 property market report by Rainmaker Marketing has highlighted some areas in South Africa, and seaside towns in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in particular, as highflying property areas. According BusinessTech , the report showed that average monthly household income in the seaside towns of Salt Rock and Ballito along KZN's beautiful Dolphin Coast has increased to over R100 000 per month. This indicated an increase by an average of 645% and 504%, respectively, showcasing Salt Rock as the top performing town in terms of income growth in the region. The report also revealed that in Salt Rock, average monthly household income rose from between R12 500 and R25 500 per month to a whopping R115 000 – R145 000 per month, the highest growth recorded in the region. Ballito followed closely behind, with monthly household income increasing from similar base levels to R91 500 – R124 000 per month. Salt Rock also now has a concentration of 70% of its households in the 'wealthy' and 'super-wealthy' brackets. While Ballito has 50% of households classified in the high-income categories and the rest spread across upper-middle and middle-income groups. 'The increase in average household income indicates consistent improvement in living standards and wealthy individuals moving into these areas,' the report stated. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
