Cape Town - Institute of Race Relations Campaign Manager Marius Roodt has welcomed the DA Federal Council announcement on Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).
South Africa's main opposition party announced last week that it was dumping BEE because they believe that the policy is not working.
"News that the DA Federal Council has abandoned Black Economic Empowerment in favour of an alternative policy framework is to be welcomed. It is a brave decision and a good one: by all measures BEE, in all its iterations, has failed," said Roodt.
"The IRR has a produced a great deal of in-depth research to this end. We wait to see what the DA’s alternative framework will be."
Roodt also welcomed DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s statement that “we need a wholesale change in empowerment policies, to move away from race-based policies” ND SAID IT "suggests that whatever is to follow will not rely on racial profiling.
"The challenge will now be to produce a policy that benefits the poor, the majority of whom are black South Africans, without resorting to quotas or the crude enrichment of an elite."
The IRR says dumping BEE could provide "a chance for the DA to leave a defining and powerful mark on liberal politics. BEE or an alternative framework is not a panacea. It will count for nothing if the economy generally is not fixed."
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