The historically disadvantaged have always been keen participants in the market economy. Whilst the term BEE is a new concept, it is not a novelty that has just come into vogue - at least in the business sphere. Empowerment was severely hamstrung by the legislative policies of the previous government, which is why a new body of enabling legislation was put in place.
It is imperative not to countenance historical amnesia when contextualising the empowerment drive. BEE is not like a tree without roots.
The case of Pixley ka Isaka Seme, a founder member of the African National Congress (then known as the South African Native National Congress), is a prime example that illustrates how economic activism has complemented the political struggle.
Not only was Seme a pioneering political activist of note, he was an accomplished social entrepreneur as well. He started the Native Farmers’ Association and a collectively black-owned enterprise, the Native Association of Africa Limited. In 1932, Seme proposed the inauguration of a national fund to be charged with underwriting black business development and a black business organisation that would lobby for the economic interests of black business.
He was also instrumental in the formation of the Bantu Business League in the KwaZulu-Natal region. The organisation was charged with promoting black, large-scale, joint business enterprises; job creation and self-help initiatives among the historically disadvantaged. The League was the precursor to a proliferation of black business organisations that encouraged the emergence of structures such as the Inanda Chamber of Commerce and Johannesburg African Chamber of Commerce.
These developments were clearly a prelude for the formation of the vulnerable and resilient National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (NAFCOC).
In its early incarnations, empowerment demonstrated an innovative entrepreneurial flair, albeit at a survivalist level. Two examples immediately spring to mind- the stokvels movement and the taxi industry. It was under the auspices of the Foundation of African Business and Consumer Services (FABCOS) and the affiliated South African Black Taxi Association (SABTA) that the multi-billion taxi industry, largely dominated by the black proletariat, was shaped into a recognisable and viable business sector.
Around the same time the National Stokvels Association of South Africa (NASASA) made its grand entry into the black business fraternity. The formation of this entity is especially significant in that stokvels are avenues of self-help – a practice that is synonymous with the indigenous African value system. It is more a type of credit union, in which a group of people enter into an agreement to contribute a fixed amount of money to a common pool on a regular basis. This form of business activity has provided for the much-needed social capital base and has proven useful in instances such as funerals, weddings and birthdays.
The jewel on the crown of the empowerment drive, however, was the formation of the hugely influential Black Management Forum (BMF) in 1980. This process was guided by advertising executive Eric Mafuna.
Black business has had a myriad of noteworthy pioneers and entrepreneurs, among them the celebrated Richard Maponya, cane furniture kingpin Habbakuk Shikoane, medico all-rounder Nthato Motlana and banker Gaby Magomola. These are some of the trailblazers who achieved success, in spite of seemingly mountainous odds deliberately created by apartheid laws that denied their efforts to access capital.
Analysts of BEE should be mindful of focusing exclusively on the latest trends, particularly the acquisition of stakes in listed companies that was also accompanied by the ill-fated Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The latter were financing models engineered on the basis of excessive gearing and the prices of the newly acquired assets rising because of the bullish market conditions. Ignominiously, the bearish market conditions in the mid–90s indelibly dented this form of financing mechanism, partly because of such unintended consequences as the saddling of the nouveau-riche BEE partners with massive debt. Moreover, it would be too superficial an analysis to stress the strides made post-1994, whilst viewing the pioneers as economic activists bereft of the requisite business acumen. The ubiquitous fact is empowerment has been, and continues to be, aided and abetted by the state’s intervention in the form of various policy prescriptions.
Therefore, when telling the empowerment stories we should never be oblivious to the impressive strides of such empowerment luminaries. The moral of this story is BEE is not without ROOTS. It is like a tree. And there is no tree without roots.
Sello Mabotja writes in his personal capacity.
