By Johnathan Paoli
A new report has sparked renewed national debate over Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) policy, arguing that instead of reducing inequality and fostering inclusion, it is worsening economic inequality, weakening job creation, and enriching a politically connected elite.
The document, released jointly by Solidarity and the Free Market Foundation (FMF) on Thursday, claims that B-BBEE has created a “web of elite enrichment” while burdening ordinary workers and businesses with inflated costs and complex regulatory obligations.
“For a long time, black economic empowerment has been presented as the moral thing to do. But we now say what many are afraid to: the emperor has no clothes,” Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann told reporters.
Hermann said that South Africa’s three central challenges of inequality, unemployment and poverty were real and pressing. However, the policy has become a harmful “medicine” that exacerbated these problems, rather than solving them.
“Criticising BEE is
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