By Moeletsi Mbeki
Black economic empowerment is one of the most destructive policies adopted by the ANC government since the advent of democracy in 1994.
Sadly, conventional wisdom in South Africa thinks BEE has been a pillar of strength for South Africa's democracy. The reality is that while BEE has enriched a significant minority among the blacks, for the great majority of black South Africans evidence shows that their condition has been deteriorating over the last 15 years.
South Africa's human development index has declined systemically in the past decade, culminating in a steep fall in life expectancy. In 1999 South Africa was ranked 94 in the index; by 2007, it had dropped to 129 out of 182 countries.
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Our life expectancy has dropped from 53.9 years in 1999 to 51.5 in 2007. These figures reflect the deterioration in living conditions for South Africa's black masses, especially Africans and coloureds.
When the new black political elite gained control of state power in 1994 it faced several difficult questions, including what to do with its new political power.
Should it use its power to enrich the black masses who had been exploited, especially by the mining industry, for the better part of 100 years? Should rich whites be allowed to keep their wealth or should it be taxed and to what extent?
Big business had anticipated all the questions and came up with its own solution. It offered to transfer a small part of its assets to individual leaders of the black resistance movement in return for them leaving the business environment as they found it. The leaders found this offer of instant wealth hard to resist.
The co-option of the black nationalist elite by big business came to be known as black economic empowerment or BEE.
Sanlam created Nail by transferring control of one of its small subsidiaries, Metropolitan Life, 85 percent of whose policyholders were black, to several ANC and Pan Africanist Congress affiliated leaders.
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