The SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) described ActionSA’s plan for inclusive economic empowerment to redress B-BBEE as nothing but a fallacy.
The federation’s spokesperson Trevor Shaku said that the inequalities in the economy were created by unemployment and low wages.
Shaku said this was exacerbated by the recent trend of business which were embarking on retrenchment processes in order to reduce input costs to maximise profits.
“Many would think that B-BBEE is failing because it was implemented in the context of a capitalist framework, hence it will continuously produce inequalities.
“The question is not whether B-BBEE is failing or not, it is because B-BBEE is a re-dress policy that is introduced in the capitalist mode of production,” he added.
Shaku continued to say it was unfortunate that the mode of transport that South Africans were on was producing inequalities.
He suggested that business was embarking on retrenchment processes in an attempt to show that the capital system was considered thriving as it was producing low wage and reintroduce machinery in order to retrench workers.
The union was responding to ActionSA’s leader Herman Mashaba’s plans of wanting to scrap the B-BBEE and employment equality, replacing it with inclusive economic empowerment package.
Late last month, Mashaba said this policies (B-BBED) were taking the country backwards as they did not unite South Africans, and were instead divisive.
While announcing his party’s plan, he said ActionSA was unapologetic in its belief in the empowerment of black, coloured, and Indian South Africans.
Mashaba, however, said there was a need to ensure a correlation between race and access to opportunity.
“We cannot claim to have realised the promise of a free and equal South Africa. A keystone of an ActionSA government’s policy will be the introduction of the Inclusive Economic .
“Empowerment Act, or IEE, which includes the establishment of an Opportunity Fund, as an alternative to failed current government policies such as the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003 that have worsened inequality and left tens of millions trapped in poverty.
“The Opportunity Fund will be used to invest in programmes that will ensure equality of opportunity, as opposed to equality of outcome, instead of focusing on the empowerment of tenderpreneurs, and the politically connected few oligarchies," ActionSA leader said.
Mashaba vowed that ActionSA government would use the Opportunity Fund to invest in tertiary education funding, entrepreneurial stimulus, and infrastructure investment in undeserved communities.
In order to bridge inequality, he said the party would focus on the root cause, not just window dressing for the sake of compliance.
“That’s why we will replace the compliance costs of existing empowerment legislation, estimated at 4%-6% of company profits with an Opportunity Fund Levy. This new legislation will apply for 30 years.”
The Star