Motlanthe strongly defends Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment

Former President Kgalema Motlanthe has come out in strong defence of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), saying criticism of the legislation is deeply flawed.

Motlanthe was speaking at the Frank Dialogue event on the future of BEE.

BEE was officially enacted in 2003 as a policy aimed at addressing the economic and racial inequality caused by apartheid.

READ: B-BBEE on a faltering trajectory' but must be fixed, says Matona

It's been more than two decades since BEE was first introduced as a policy. Now referred to as Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, or B-BBEE, the policy faces both domestic and international pressure to be dropped.

It has been criticised as an impediment to doing business in the country, undermining meritocracy, and only benefiting the politically connected.

Motlanthe said these arguments do not hold up when there is a lot of research showing the growth of the Black middle class since the dawn of democracy.

"Imperfect as this may be, it wouldn’t have happened without the deliberate access to education, affirmative hiring, and enterprise development."

Motlanthe echoed the sentiments of the B-BBEE Commissioner that the policy must continue to be improved rather than scrapped.