RIGHT OF REPLY | JJ Tabane’s BEE confusion: twisting DA’s people-first stance into a ‘racism’ is tired

Commentator Onkgopotse JJ Tabane has wrongly lashed out at the DA, saying that it is ignoring South Africa’s historical truth by calling for a move away from BEE towards a focus on economic inclusion, when it is the very historical and present truths that are behind the DA’s move.

In so doing, Tabane is guilty of ignoring a major “historical truth” that many beyond the DA have observed ― that, after 30 years of one or another variety of B-BBEE, unemployment is higher than ever and poverty is everywhere to be seen.

This is because BEE was designed as a programme to enrich a politically connected elite and has failed to empower ordinary South Africans who are struggling to make a living and to keep hunger and poverty at bay.

To make his argument, Tabane cites statistics that show how black South Africans remain marginalised and excluded. This is tragically the case after three decades of ANC rule.

But he does not draw the obvious conclusion: it is under the world’s most far-reaching race-based empowerment regime that this inequality has persisted and, in many ways, worsened.

Proposing to continue with the failed policy, which has not empowered anyone but a tiny elite, does not make sense.

Tabane should be asking himself what should be done differently to achieve a better life for all South Africans, but he is oddly not interested in answering this question.

Instead, he parrots ANC dogma, which holds that only BEE can create a thriving inclusive economy, even if all the evidence suggests otherwise.

It is clearly time to try something new.

The biggest game changer for a country is how well its government can provide the infrastructure and services that prompt economic growth and create a safe, functional environment for citizens to thrive.

Good governance means making sure that every cent of taxpayer ― or ratepayer ― money is used to maximum effect so that as many citizens as possible might benefit from government services.

This has clearly not been the case under the BEE regime, which has been a fig leaf for connected politicians and their connections to abuse state funds, buying goods and services at inflated prices and contracting politically connected businesses without the skills to deliver effectively.

What the DA is proposing is that the government place delivery to all citizens, and especially those in the greatest need, front and centre of its policy approach, ensuring maximum benefit for citizens.

Governments ― local, provincial and national ― must have proper pro-poor policies that take into account poverty and unemployment.

This is already the case where the DA governs in metros and municipalities across the country, from Cape Town to Midvaal and Umgeni.

Where the DA governs, the most extensive pro-poor policies, such as subsidising water and electricity and prioritising building infrastructure where it is weakest, are in place. Tabane ignores this.

Even President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged this, telling ANC members who want to be councillors that they must learn from the DA, saying: “I can name it here because there’s nothing wrong with competition. They are often DA-controlled municipalities. We need to ask ourselves, what is it that they are doing that is better than what we are doing?”

This approach to governance prioritises ordinary people ― and especially those in the greatest need.

Race-baiting is the last resort of critics who can’t find actual fault, or an elite that desperately wants to keep the BEE policy that channels money into its bank accounts alive. It’s a classic political play by those with no argument; to turn to race, tribe, ethnicity as a point of division. 

They expect nothing less than the highest standards of service and the most efficient use of their tax and rates payments.

The DA approach is to limit the opportunities for graft and corruption and maximise the opportunities for effective, efficient governance that uses the best and most cost-effective services available.

As DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille put it, “in South Africa, the vast majority of the unemployed and poor are black people. They get the best free basic service package in the DA governments. They get the best opportunities, best public access through transport and various other things.”

Caricaturing the DA as “racist” is a tired tactic that is disproved by the facts on the ground where the DA governs.

Race-baiting is the last resort of critics who can’t find actual fault, or an elite that desperately wants to keep the BEE policy that channels money into its bank accounts alive. It’s a classic political play by those with no argument; to turn to race, tribe, ethnicity as a point of division.

Would Tabane make race-baiting claims of respected academics and commentators such as Prof William Mervyn Gumede and Moeletsi Mbeki, who have both strongly criticised BEE for failing to empower? What about the millions of black voters who choose the DA and the millions who have given up on the ANC? Are they also living their lives through only one prism, race?

Voters are tired of these cliches. They have seen through the ANC’s claim to be serving their interests while an elite gets rich at their expense. They don’t want more cheap rhetoric, they want government to deliver.

Instead of jumping on this threadbare bandwagon, Tabane should think critically about how South Africa can move forward after three decades of failed policies.

Baxolile Nodada, DA deputy chief whip