Systemic govt failures, not BEE to blame rising unemployment in SA, says economist

JOHANNESBURG - The debate over the effects of broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) continues, as some push back against claims that affirmative action is to blame for rising unemployment.

This follows a report by the Free Market Foundation and trade union Solidarity, which links the country’s high unemployment rate to B-BBEE policies.

However, numbers from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) tell a different story, showing that employment has grown from 8.9 million in 1994 to 16.7 million in the first quarter of 2025.

Of these, more than 12 million jobs are held by black South Africans.

According to Stats SA, the number of employed black people has increased from 5 million in 1994 to 12 million in the first quarter of 2025.

While more black people are employed now than three decades ago, they still experience the highest rate of unemployment compared to other racial groups.

Solidarity argued that B-BBEE had contributed to rising unemployment among black South Africans.

However, political economist Dale McKinley disputed the claim that B-BBEE was responsible, instead attributing the issue to systemic government failures.

"What I don’t agree with is that you can blame BEE [black economic empowerment] for the lack of growth in the economy as a whole. Those are structural problems in our economy that go way beyond a particular BEE policy, that go through apartheid legacy and racial and class divisions that are very deep."

In his presidential newsletter, President Cyril Ramaphosa also refuted claims that B-BBEE had failed to address unemployment.