An overview of the B-BBEE Act and its impact on black entrepreneurs in South Africa

Abstract

The South African government has introduced many policies that are aimed at addressing the imbalances of the past. The apartheid government policy was declared as a crime against humanity by the World Health Organization and various democratic institutions around the world. The current government had to balance the economy by giving more advantages to black people, black youth, people living with disabilities and women. The government was not prepared enough to transform the economy because policies did not represent the majority of blacks in South Africa. The B-BBEE policy has failed to deliver the economy to the majority of black people in South Africa. Only a few individuals and elite have benefitted from the system, whilst the majority of blacks are still living under the same economic conditions that they were subjected to during apartheid. The objectives of this study are primarily to present an overview of how B-BBEE has failed to transform the economy and failed to reverse the economic injustices of the apartheid regime. People who are benefitting are not entrepreneurs but tenderpreneurs who are in the business of exploiting resources for their own wealth, with no interest in economically equipping the majority of blacks. Tenderpreneurs are worse than the apartheid government that employed people who are performing the same services for the government on behalf of tenderpreneurs. Employees of tenderpreneurs are underpaid and work under unfavorable conditions. Additionally, this study presents black representability in senior private and parastatal institutions. This study applied a desktop research methodology to unpack previous studies, conference papers, newspaper reports and parliamentary findings relevant to the investigation. This paper found that various economic experts have identified several loopholes in the B-BBEE policy and several policy reviews have been conducted with no success.