CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed claims that Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) impedes economic growth.
He said these criticisms have become a slogan and are a lie.
He was responding to Democratic Alliance (DA) member of Parliament (MP) Toby Chance, who questioned him on the efforts being taken to restore the country's investment confidence, to boost economic growth, and create more jobs.
Chance laid it bare to the President that while economic growth is built on investment, South Africa's domestic investment rate has collapsed from 2009 to 2025.
READ | DA Is Lying About BEE: How They Are Misleading South Africa
This, he said, has led to more debt and fewer jobs being created.
"These are outcomes of bad ANC policies such as B-BBEE, bailing out failed SOEs (State-Owned Entities) and cadre deployment, amongst others,” he said.
But Ramaphosa defended the policy, saying it has helped open industries.
Using the mining sector as an example, Ramaphosa said before 1994, the industry was controlled by six major companies that held mineral rights in perpetuity.
READ |DA takes a swing at BEE policy as it introduces 'Economic Inclusion Bill'
But when the democratic government changed the law and nationalised all the mineral rights in the country, it opened up space for black people to get into mining.
“Today, many black people are in the mining industry. They are mining manganese, which they were not even able to get into. They are mining coal. They only participated in coal as workers. They are mining gold. They were only gold miners and not owners.
“Today, that industry has more black entrepreneurs. Black mining companies, some of them are the biggest,” he added.
Ramaphosa said they remain focused on investing in infrastructure.
“As I've often said, infrastructure is the flywheel that turns the economy around. Because from that flows a whole number of other benefits that can be reaped as other businesses then hang on to infrastructure projects and create more and more jobs,” he added.