OPINION: Why the constitution has no specific provision dealing with placement of the majority africans in the periphery and exclusion of the economy.
Past and the Path Forward for Economic Emancipation.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) does not contain a provision that explicitly addresses economic transformation. Section 9(2), which forms the basis of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act (BBBEE Act of 2003), focuses on promoting equality. It states:
“Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms. To promote the achievement of equality, legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination may be taken.”
Some critics argue that any form of discrimination, even corrective, contradicts the Constitution. However, there is a pressing need for the Constitution to explicitly mandate the economic empowerment of Africans, Coloureds, and Indians to the extent and proportion that apartheid historically excluded, exploited, and dehumanised them.
Chapter 13 of the Constitution (Sections 213 to 230A), which deals with public finance, does not address this issue. Now, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has taken the ANC-led government to court, arguing that transformation laws amount to class discrimination. Simultaneously, it is shaping laws that would allow figures like Elon Musk to operate in South Africa outside of transformation frameworks. The spirit of economic transformation is being eroded, and the black majority remains locked out of ownership and real control of the economy.
The National Dialogue (ND), despite its noble intentions, lacks legal force and urgency. Some of our liberation icons appear disconnected from the lived realities of the people they once led. South Africans cannot be expected to wait another thirty years for economic inclusion through a process that amounts to little more than a symbolic talk shop. We need real and measurable economic change now.
At a recent R100 billion Empowerment Fund breakfast hosted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), Dr Nthabiseng Moleko, Chairperson of the National Empowerment Fund, remarked that the transformation from English dominance to Afrikaner empowerment was achieved through political will. In contrast, post-1994 African empowerment appears to rely more on compliance and conformity. Her analysis was spot-on.
We should not be distracted by elections and ceremonial voting, General Bantu Holomisa once noted that it was never properly conveyed to the apartheid regime that the struggle was only for the vote, not for surrendering economic power.
A crucial historical moment was the meeting held on 13 September 1985 at Mfuwe Game Lodge, Zambia, between a South African business delegation led by Anglo American Chairman Gavin Relly and the ANC, led by President OR Tambo. ANC NEC member Thabo Mbeki openly criticised the concentration of wealth in just three entities: Anglo, Rembrandt, and Sanlam/Old Mutual. He said:
“An ANC government would have to start spreading wealth immediately should it come to power.”
— The ANC Billionaires: Big Capital’s Gambit and the Rise of the Few by Pieter du Toit, p.6.
Despite the ANC winning 69.7% of the national vote in 2004, enough to amend the Constitution, President Mbeki did not act decisively to ensure economic emancipation. In a 2016 article in the Daily Dispatch, Mbeki blamed big business for the failure of transformation, citing capitalism’s incompatibility with the ANC’s GEAR policy goals.
The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis outlines the four factors of production as land, labour, capital, and entrepreneurship. These building blocks of the economy underline why state support is essential for empowerment.
This contradicts the position of Flip Buys in his 2020 article “Afrikaner Economic Empowerment: Ten Lessons,” where he argues against government involvement in black empowerment. Buys conveniently omits the apartheid state’s direct role in Afrikaner economic upliftment, often through exploitation of black labour. His call to focus on the “windscreen, not the rear-view mirror” ignores the fact that true reconciliation was offered but never truly accepted.
In an article published in Mail & Guardian (29 June 2020), Dr Jantjie Xaba of Stellenbosch University asks why Afrikaner Economic Empowerment (AEE) was more effective than BBBEE. His answer is clear: AEE relied on coordinated, people-driven efforts like the Helpmekaarvereniging (Mutual Aid Association), which birthed “volkskapitalisme” (people’s capitalism).
The post-1923/24 AEE included social services and protected employment, backed by a welfare state and state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Institutions like Iscor were used to empower white citizens and create economic stability for Afrikaners. In contrast, post-apartheid BBBEE has leaned on market-driven models with minimal state intervention.
Afrikaner civil society organisations like the Broederbond, Helpmekaarvereniging, and the Afrikaans Christian Women’s Association played pivotal roles in mobilising resources and fostering empowerment. According to The Last Afrikaner Leaders by Hermann Giliomee (pp. 28–29), JD ‘Father’ Kestell inspired a cultural and economic “rescue action” that led to the 1939 Volkskongres. This congress created three key institutions, including the Federale Volksbeleggings (FVB), which supported Afrikaner entrepreneurs like Anton Rupert.
When comparing these two programmes, we have to understand the nature and the role of the welfare state. Under AEE, since 1924, the National Party (NP) established a welfare state with the support from Afrikaner Nationalists that rolled out social services. This was maintained through legislation, fiscal steps, and a large network of parastatals to empower poor whites. Modelled on Keynesianism, these parastatals, including Iscor, were used to support a developmental agenda of the state that comprised of the provision of protected employment, housing, education, and medical services to white employees and their families. (Dr Xaba).
Under BBBEE , the ANC formed a developmental state based on a liberal model that combined market-based, private, contributory schemes with minimum government support for social services. Compared to AEE, the impact was very little. (Dr Xaba).
Today, black South Africans, particularly Africans, must adopt a similar self-empowerment mindset. During the apartheid-era State of Emergency, communities organised street committees that maintained order. Now, within the law, we must revive this spirit, fighting corruption, demanding accountability, and playing a central role in our economic development.
To address economic exclusion meaningfully, we must push for constitutional amendments. The issue should be raised during the Constitutional Review submissions to be made by 31 May 2025. Without direct government intervention and legislation, true economic emancipation will remain a dream deferred.
As Dr Xaba rightly points out, the sale and privatisation of SOEs must be halted. These entities remain crucial tools for inclusive development, just as they were for the Afrikaner community.
Adv Mzukisi Mgxashe
(In his personal capacity)
This is article is published various Transform SA platform include Transform SA Daily webiste and Transform Monthly Digital Magazine. Email us on opinion@transformsa.co.za