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Renowned political economist Moeletsi Mbeki said the National Party, through the insurance company Sanlam, created black economic empowerment (BEE).<\/p>\n
Mbeki shared this information during an interview with the\u00a0Help Us Understand podcast by the GIBS Business School.<\/p>\n
During this interview, Mbeki explored the historical, political, and economic forces shaping South Africa today.<\/p>\n
One of the topics which Mbeki focused on was black economic empowerment and its impact on the South African economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people think the ANC started BEE, but it was actually the National Party. The first instrument they used was Sanlam, the insurance company,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the National Party realised it was going to lose power, it wanted to create a weakened democratic state to protect its own assets.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo do this, they gave shares in a company called Metropolitan Life, which was part of Sanlam, to the leaders of the resistance in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained that the resistance struggle was multi-racial, made up of African, Coloured, Indian, and White citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet, Sanlam and the National Party gave shares and money exclusively to Africans. I could easily give you the list of names of the people who received them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt weakened the multi-racial coalition. It divided them because it excluded Coloureds, Whites, and Indians.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cConsequently, those excluded groups felt aggrieved and stopped supporting the new governing party.\u201d<\/p>\n
He argued that this was why the Democratic Alliance (DA) secured the votes of the Coloured and Indian communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is how Black Economic Empowerment started, and that was its original purpose,\u201d Mbeki said in the interview.<\/p>\n
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Attie du Plessis, a former executive director at Sanlam, was the mastermind behind Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Attie du Plessis was the brother of Barend du Plessis, a former National Party member who served as Minister of Finance from 1984 to 1992.<\/p>\n
During the tumultuous 1980s, Du Plessis was one of the Sanlam leaders directly involved in talks with black leaders in exile in the eighties.<\/p>\n
The first meeting was in Dakar, Senegal, in 1987. It soon became apparent that the ANC leadership wanted to talk specifically to Afrikaner business leaders.<\/p>\n
Marinus Daling and Du Plessis were the two executives from the Sanlam and Sankorp stable who assisted in the talks.<\/p>\n
These talks facilitated communication between leaders inside and outside South Africa, leading to peaceful negotiations and democratic elections.<\/p>\n
However, there was a challenge to companies like Sanlam, which had close ties to the South African government.<\/p>\n
They would lose their government ties after the ANC took power, and they were also concerned about the country\u2019s political and economic stability.<\/p>\n
Sanlam executives felt that helping black people share in the ownership of the mainstream economy would serve their and the country\u2019s aspirations.<\/p>\n
The company tasked with testing this black ownership strategy, Sankorp, was a management powerhouse established by Sanlam in 1985.<\/p>\n
Du Plessis, an executive director at Sanlam\u2019s Sankorp, structured a deal to create black ownership in one of its subsidiaries, Metropolitan Life.<\/p>\n
In May 1993, Sanlam announced that Sankorp would sell a block of its Metropolitan Life interest to the black-led consortium, Corporate Africa.<\/p>\n
A holding company of Metropolitan Life, Methold, was jointly formed with Sankorp and issued shares. The shares were only available to black buyers.<\/p>\n
The transaction was concluded in August 1994, and the holding company, Methold, was renamed New Africa Investments Limited (NAIL).<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Mbeki said that Black Economic Empowerment has morphed into a destructive policy, enriching a small group of elite at the cost of millions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think even the National Party must be turning in its grave, shocked by what black economic empowerment has become,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBEE has become a virus inside the body politic of South Africa. It benefits the African elite to the absolute exclusion of everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mbeki explained that BEE has also become one of the main drivers of corruption in South Africa, as seen by the Tembisa hospital scandal.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, they are the ones passing the laws that benefit themselves because they have the numbers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember, 80% of South Africa\u2019s population is African, and up to now, it has been led by the African middle class. So, they have been passing laws that benefit themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said a prominent aspect of this law is fronting, where you set up a front company for a white-owned business to pose as a black-owned company.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what Black Economic Empowerment has become. It has turned into a virus in the body politic of South Africa, driving all sorts of negative processes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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