Twenty-seven years after the passage of the Employment Equity Act, and twenty-three years after the passage of that millstone around neck of South Africa’s economy, BEE, ordinary South Africans are yet to see the ostensible benefits that this legislation was intended to bring to their lives.
All we’ve seen so far is a wealth-redistribution scheme, and the shocking results of fake transformation: increased inequality, increased poverty, and skyrocketing unemployment. It is even worse amongst my peers; the youth, where nearly three out of four South Africans under the age of 25 sit without work.
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition aims to “enhance skills development and employability [by] training at least (my emphasis) 500,000 unemployed people in high-demand-sectors.” It will also appropriate R1.96 billion for the purpose of transformation in the next financial year.
I wrote earlier this year about the government having a spending problem. This is exactly what I mean. South Africans don’t see a cent of government spending on transformation. South Africans do see government spending money on FAKE transformation.
Does it ameliorate the unemployment, poverty or inequality rates? No.
Instead of spending it on “transformation” efforts with no tangible benefit for the majority of South Africans, the money could:
- Provide annual public healthcare for over 1.1 million people, or employ 3,000 doctors for a year.
- Fund schooling for 1.15 million learners, or hire 24,000 new teachers at entry-level salaries.
- Build 7,677 RDP houses, or 4,625 social housing units for low-income earners.
- Pay child support grants for 788,000 children for a year, or fund 3.26 million SRD grants for three months.
True transformation is about exactly this – giving South Africans the freedom of upward social mobility, through tax-funded housing, healthcare and education vouchers.
Transform unemployment
Restrictive labour laws and the high minimum wage are the highest barriers to growth in South Africa. Introducing a Job Seekers’ Exemption Certificate (JSEC) would free South Africans from the burden of unemployment. South Africans do want the government to focus on job creation:
Many South Africans (and nearly 80% of self-identified ANC voters) favour a government focus on job creation over expanded welfare support and grants, according to the latest IRR polling conducted in April 2025.
Are social grants transformative?
The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) sets itself quarterly targets. On first impression, one would assume that the quarterly target would be measured by the number of people no longer reliant on social assistance, or recently employed – but that is not the case.
The target is measured by an increase in social grant payments.
By the end of June 2025, the number had increased by 18,403 (or 0.1%).
Data from 2022/23 shows that more than 30% of the total population were reliant on social grants. In the same year, nearly half of all households in South Africa were benefiting from social grants.
Something is wrong
There is nothing inherently wrong about vulnerable South Africans being reliant on the state for an income, but when government officials do not even consider job creation and economic growth as a solution, something is wrong. The Government of National Unity’s commitment to “inclusive” economic growth means nothing if it isn’t followed up with evidence-based policy reform.
The ANC and its smaller offshoots firmly believe that a Basic Income Grant is an imperative. The financial implications – as with the National Health Insurance – are just waved away.
This redistribution-over-growth mentality by the political elite has failed the majority of South Africans for two decades. Doubling down on failed policies won’t help young and old women access better healthcare services in the rural Eastern Cape. Neither will it improve the prospects of millions of youths being locked out of the job market, who have become hopeless and despondent, nor the millions reliant on the government for welfare.
That’s why my blood boils when the President and other politicians use social grants and the privatisation of public services as a scare tactic come election time. They are using poverty for political benefit. It is demeaning and thoroughly undignified.
True transformation would see these women and unemployed young people across the country receive the support they need by being given a path, an opportunity and a chance at social mobility and improved quality of life. Think of it as an incentive, in a similar, but more valuable way than the government giving subsidies to companies to promote productivity or some other asinine justification.
Social grants are here to stay
Dependency can be broken by offering a workable alternative, like Economic Empowerment for the Disadvantaged – a new, bold form of true transformation.
The Freedom from Poverty Bill also aims to scrap all race-based empowerment policies, instead using means tests to determine disadvantage. It will empower job creators by freeing them from the regulatory burdens imposed by Employment Equity targets, and will cut out corruption by putting tax-funded vouchers for education, healthcare and housing straight into the hands of those who need them most.
The Freedom from Poverty Bill and the broader vision of #WhatSACanBe aim to restore hope for a brighter future. A future where South Africa is freer, more prosperous, and where liberty and opportunity are the norm. Not the exception.
Peddlers of poverty
You and I know that the peddlers of poverty will continue in their baseless defence of race-based empowerment policy, because they refuse to believe that all South Africans can think, believe and act in their own interest.
Removing people’s agency is the very antithesis of individual liberty. Restoring that freedom through the Freedom from Poverty Bill can put South Africans and their families firmly on the path to #WhatSACanBe.
[Image: https://irr.org.za/whatsacanbe/join-team-whatsacanbe]
If you like what you have just read, support the Daily Friend