BEE should stay but South Africa must rethink its value system, says Phakamisa Ndzamela

Phakamisa Ndzamela, author and business commentator, told the Crossing the Line podcast that black economic empowerment (BEE) should not be amended but that South Africa’s value system needs to change to make the policy work.

Keep the policy, sharpen certain elements

Speaking to media veteran Ryland Fisher on the Crossing the Line podcast, Ndzamela said: “I don’t know if adding another B is going to help. They added two Bs [broad-based] and people are still complaining. You can have as many Bs as you want, you’re still going to struggle.”

He argued that the problem lies with capitalism as a system and with how society approaches empowerment rather than with the structure of BEE itself. “I would say don’t review or amend it. Just create a value system that shows that it can work if there is proper community upliftment,” Ndzamela said.

Ndzamela said he would sharpen areas such as skills development, enterprise and supplier development, and management control to bring more people into the economy. He added: “I wouldn’t cancel economic empowerment, but the President should clamp down on fronting, which is destroying BEE. It is awful.”

Corruption, fronting and public perception

Ndzamela said corruption is a broader problem and cautioned against singling out BEE alone. “We can’t cancel BEE, but we must clamp down on corruption. All systems are corrupt, and I don’t know why BEE is being scapegoated. Capitalism, at a broad macro level, has a lot of corrupt elements, and I’ve never heard people say that the entire capitalism should be scrapped because of corrupt elements.”

Changing values, not cancellation

Beyond policy mechanics, Ndzamela called for a societal shift in values. He said people should not be measured by what they wear or the cars they drive and argued for teaching different measures of success in schools. “The moment you flaunt your wealth, you should be regarded by society as an embarrassing businessperson. This will help to create a value system that says, if you give and are philanthropic, then you are the type of businessperson required by society.”

He also criticised attaching price tags to career choices, saying: “You must say to your child, you’re going to be a doctor because you want to produce a healthy society. If you are going to be a lawyer, you’re going to drive justice. The moment we start putting a price tag on professions, you start destroying the fibre of society.”

Business history and BEE myths

In his latest book, Ndzamela addresses misconceptions about entrepreneurship and BEE. He pointed to business figures who were entrepreneurs before 1994 and continued in the new economy, citing examples including Mustaq Brey, Fred Robertson and Rashid Seria to show that many who participated in BEE had prior business experience.

Podcast appearance

Ndzamela was the latest guest on Crossing the Line, the podcast started by Ryland Fisher. According to IOL, the publication features one of the podcast’s guests every week.

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