SA empowerment drive aids too few blacks – poll

JOHANNESBURG – South Africans believe the government’s drive to increase the number of blacks in senior management has enriched only a select few, a survey showed yesterday.

However, it also showed a majority of people felt the black economic empowerment programme has helped others and is vital to address the wrongs of the past. Some 70 per cent of 500 people in a telephone survey said they felt only a small minority benefited from ruling African National Congress schemes, 10 years after the end of apartheid.”It should be something of a wake-up call to government,” said Neil Higgs, director of private pollster Research Surveys who carried out the survey.”People are tired of seeing the same faces always turning up in black economic empowerment (BEE) deals.”Forty-four percent said BEE was stifling economic growth and 43 per cent said it created an environment that fostered corruption, including more than half of whites.As part of the programme, the government has set quotas for the percentage of various industries that should be owned by the country’s majority black population.But critics say the process is dominated by cronies of government and industry officials who have access to information and influence.On Monday, a black empowerment group led by senior officials from the ruling African National Congress party said they had agreed to buy a 15,1 per cent stake in state-controlled phone company Telkom.In the survey, 70 per cent of black Africans and 75 per cent of mixed race and Indians said BEE was necessary to address the wrongs of the past, against 64 per cent of whites.Under the white apartheid rule that ended in 1994, strict controls were imposed on what black South Africans could own, where they could go and how they could be educated.Despite government efforts and 10 years of democracy, many blacks still live in poverty while the private sector remains dominated by whites.-Nampa-ReutersSome 70 per cent of 500 people in a telephone survey said they felt only a small minority benefited from ruling African National Congress schemes, 10 years after the end of apartheid.”It should be something of a wake-up call to government,” said Neil Higgs, director of private pollster Research Surveys who carried out the survey.”People are tired of seeing the same faces always turning up in black economic empowerment (BEE) deals.”Forty-four percent said BEE was stifling economic growth and 43 per cent said it created an environment that fostered corruption, including more than half of whites.As part of the programme, the government has set quotas for the percentage of various industries that should be owned by the country’s majority black population.But critics say the process is dominated by cronies of government and industry officials who have access to information and influence.On Monday, a black empowerment group led by senior officials from the ruling African National Congress party said they had agreed to buy a 15,1 per cent stake in state-controlled phone company Telkom.In the survey, 70 per cent of black Africans and 75 per cent of mixed race and Indians said BEE was necessary to address the wrongs of the past, against 64 per cent of whites.Under the white apartheid rule that ended in 1994, strict controls were imposed on what black South Africans could own, where they could go and how they could be educated.Despite government efforts and 10 years of democracy, many blacks still live in poverty while the private sector remains dominated by whites.-Nampa-Reuters