Government should not ‘copy-and-paste’ apartheid template for black industrialists

By Sanjeev “Mahatma” Gupta

If we had our way (myself as someone pigeonholed as black by the BEE policy) we would have done some genetic engineering to clone black versions of Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson and Bill Gates, world renowned industrialists with  billion dollar businesses. But, the reality is that we have to build our class of black industrialists organically from the bottom up like developed countries which produced these accomplished entrepreneurs have painstakingly done.

It is agonisingly clear that two decades that have lapsed since the advent of democracy have been a learning curve. Now there is no excuse that it is time to pull up our sleeves and take action.

Ironically, the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) is considering using the apartheid era Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) model to fast-track the creation of the black industrialists.

However, there are shortcomings from the practice of copying and pasting a system which was created to elevate the interests of a white, predominantly Afrikaner minority. While apologists of apartheid often long for the ‘good old days’ and stand on the moral high ground on issues relating to corruption, what they deliberately overlook is that as a result of the attempt to create industrial there was huge wastage and inefficiency then too, not to mention corruption and political patronage (sadly a replica of post-1994 system). Not a good model to emulate, evidently!

For this reason, the most sustainable way for the government to unleash the potential of black industrialists is economic growth and policies that stimulate and not restrict private enterprise. There is no shortcut to the black industrialists Holy grail!