Boitumelo Kgobotlo | May 8, 2025
Actionsa leader Herman Mashaba announced that his party will represent a parliamentary resolution to abolish a wide range of black economic empowerment policies.
Mashaba spoke at the Apartheid Museum on Tuesday, with Michael Beaumont, Lelato Nugobeni, Nasipi Moya and Kugosi Letrape.
He said the resolution would look into the Economic Change Act from the standpoint of Rule 119 and call for the creation of an Ad Hoc Committee to propose urgent reforms.
“We embark on this effort to bridge partisan divisions and build true consensus, establishing a dedicated and constitutionally empowered platform in actual legislative reforms that not only culminates in rhetoric, but also advances economic justice in South Africa,” Mashaba said.
He touched on five important suggestions to guide change. This was called the essential policy lever to bring about actual, measurable changes.
These are inclusive economic empowerment, social investment grants, housing and spatial justice, gender justice, and social cohesion.
Mashaba said he wanted comprehensive economic empowerment laws and would introduce an opportunity fund.
The fund is funded by a 5% collection of corporate profits, replacing the BBBEE framework and investing in education, entrepreneurship and infrastructure for underprivileged communities.
He explained that small businesses will be exempt from the collection and that the fund will be timed to 30 days.
“Action is not opposed to black economic empowerment, and on the contrary, we believe economic justice is a historic duty. But we are opposed to the narrow, corrupt, politically manipulated ways in which it was implemented.
Regarding social grants, he said Actions wanted to protect people's dignity while reducing dependence. The party plans to support youth development, mental health services and safer communities to help people become active members of society.
He also addressed immigration, highlighting that South Africa cannot resolve issues while dealing with issues in other countries.
He denounced corrupt border officials for allowing undocumented immigrants to compete with South Africans for jobs and services.
He emphasized that even after apartheid ended, he continued to alienate through poor education, economic policy failures, corruption and the weakness of immigration.
Mashaba said that without proper reforms to replace laws in the apartheid era, the constitutional goals remain out of reach.
He mentioned several apartheid laws, including the 1913 Indigenous Land Act to the 1985 People of Color Education Act, as evidence of damages that still need to be repaired.
“Now I'm listing these things that I don't keep at all times, or that many people claim for the joy of living in the past. I do so to remind myself of the prevalence of the apartheid heritage that was intended to inform the work that the apartheid regime had to inform the work that had to be done to restore the socioeconomic waste of apartheid as envisaged in the constitution.
“Instead, what we saw is the successive ANC governments that were “expected to constitute a government government for the people,” for the government where “people are one after another” politically connected,” Mashabah added.
He said that laws such as employment equity and widespread black economic empowerment (BBBEE) were introduced in good faith, but they ultimately ended up helping only small, connected elites.
“Disclaimer – the views and opinions expressed in this article are the views of the author and are not necessarily those of the Bee Room.”
