Govt's R150m boost for BEE
Thabo Mokgola
27 October 2004
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Tuesday said the government would boost the drive to achieve a fully-fledged broad based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) by injecting an additional R150-million into the National Empowerment Fund (NEF).
Manuel announced the additional funding in Parliament where he said the money would be used to finance proposed BEE products based on an agreed business plan.
He said as the country's economy grew, and opportunities expanded, government ought to ensure that a larger proportion of those opportunities benefited disadvantaged people.
Broad-based black economic empowerment, he said, was about expanding the number of women and black people who owned their own businesses, broadening the number of black people who owned meaningful stakes in larger companies and achieving greater inclusiveness in management positions in industry.
"Quite correctly, therefore, the financial services charter places
ownership as one important dimension of empowerment.
"It also identifies human resource development, increasing access to financial services, outsourcing and procurement from black companies and investment in community development as key elements of economic transformation," he said.
Manuel raised concerns that many of the current proposals in the different charters did not contain a multi-dimensional view of black economic empowerment.
"In some cases, the ownership criteria in these draft charters are not realistic, leading to unnecessarily complex and risky financing structures," Manuel said, warning that "such a trend was self-defeating."
"While increasing the levels of ownership of black people in corporate South Africa is absolutely important, building the economy, increasing production, creating jobs, developing young black managers and investing in social development are just as critical in shaping economic transformation," said Manuel.
He
cited the uMzansi bank account that was launched by major banks on Monday as a tangible sign of how soundly structured charters could contribute towards increasing access to services.
"This initiative stems directly from the Financial Sector Charter and will go a long way towards bringing in the 'unbanked' millions into our financial system," he said.
Source: BuaNews
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