Mashatile: BBBEE is not a failed policy; must be implemented more rigorously

CAPE TOWN - Deputy President Paul Mashatile said that broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) had been a huge success and must be implemented even more rigorously.

He said that BBBEE was not a race policy but rather a transformative piece of legislation and a lot of companies in key sectors were now black-owned as a result.

Mashatile was responding to questions in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on unemployment and government's plans to grow the economy.

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The deputy president said that broad-based black economic empowerment was here to stay and scrapping the policy would be like going back to apartheid.

"Anybody who says we must scrap that means we must go back to apartheid. You basically say: 'Leave the economy in the hands of whites.'"

Mashatile told the NCOP that BBBEE can't be blamed for the country’s slow economic growth and high youth unemployment. 

He said the policy remains relevant because the country’s economy was still largely in the hands of the minority.

"The BBBEE is not a failed policy. In fact, I think it must be implemented more rigorously."

Mashatile said the policy deals with the empowerment of those who were disadvantaged in the past and the African National Congress (ANC) had to come with a policy to change that.