‘Is it greed or jealousy?’: Ramaphosa fires back at critics of BEE, Transformation Fund

President Cyril Ramaphosa has come out swinging against critics of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), questioning whether their opposition is rooted in “greed” or “jealousy”.

Ramaphosa was speaking during his keynote address at the gala dinner of the Black Business Council’s annual summit held at the Radisson Hotel and Convention Centre in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni.

The two-day summit concluded on Friday.

National dialogue and socioeconomic challenges

Delivering his speech, Ramaphosa reiterated the government’s commitment to hosting a national dialogue to develop solutions for the country’s pressing issues.

“Some of these challenges manifest themselves in a number of problems that people not only in our country are facing.

“Cost of living crises are widespread and they impact largely disproportionately on poor people and even middle-income households,” he said.

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The president acknowledged that while unemployment is a global issue, South Africa is particularly affected.

“We have the worst unemployment problem, especially youth unemployment.”

He highlighted the mistrust in institutions, attributing it to high levels of corruption and state capture.

Economic growth through transformation

Ramaphosa emphasised the potential of the government of national unity (GNU) in driving transformation.

He said growth of the country’s economy will happen through transformation.

“That is the reality. Transformation is vital if growth is to be meaningful and is to be inclusive as well as to be sustainable.

“There are those who say, dump transformation, dump the black economic empowerment.

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“Dump it because it is inhibiting growth and I argue that it is what happened in the past that we have to transform and to change, and we can only do so through transformation to grow our economy.”

He referred to the Constitution as the foundation for transformation policies.

“The heart of our Constitution is around the equality clause, which says that steps and measures and laws must be made to redress the injustices of our past and we will not get away from that,” the president told delegates.

“It is what happened in the past that we must never forget, for it must inform what we need to do now, and it must inspire what we should do in the future. That’s what we need to do and it’s not limited to a few laws, policies or regulations.”

Watch Ramaphosa’s speech below:

Ramaphosa defends BEE

Ramaphosa stated that legislative frameworks like the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and the Employment Equity Act are crucial tools for driving transformation.

Despite progress in narrowing the equality gap, the president pointed out that significant disparities remain – with the average income of white households still nearly five times higher than that of black African households.

READ MORE: Employment Equity Bill has ‘shortcomings’

Ramaphosa appeared to take a swipe at the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is challenging the Employment Equity Act in court.

“Quite often they are the ones who complain about employment equity, black economic empowerment and you often wonder, what is it?

“Is it greed that is driving them or is it jealousy because it should be prosper thy neighbor that should drive them. They should be applauding.

“Yes, people are also moving up the scale and they are often the very first to complain and even to take government to court.”

Transformation Fund

Ramaphosa called for the ownership, management, and control of key industries, such as construction, to reflect South Africa’s demographics.

“We cannot separate our drive for inclusive growth for the drive for economic empowerment.

“And I stress this because the noises that continue to be made against empowerment and transformation are worrying.”

Addressing criticism of the Transformation Fund, Ramaphosa reaffirmed the government’s commitment to its implementation.

“We suddenly heard negative voices about the establishment of the Transformation Fund and we have said we are forging ahead with the establishment of this fund and we are going to allocate money.”

READ MORE: What problem does government want to solve with R100bn Transformation Fund?

He emphasised that access to finance remains a key barrier for black-owned businesses:

“We therefore as government must make sure that there is access to funding for black-owned businesses.”

Ramaphosa also pushed back against the argument that BEE is a cost to the economy.

“There are those who say it is costing the economy much too much. And when you ask them in what way it is costing the economy, they are not able to explain. We need to demonstrate that it is an investment in the economy.”