VW provides yet more proof that BEE does not work

24 October 201

Volkswagen SA’s warning that a shortage of black suppliers in the automotive industry could have disastrous consequences proves that Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) does not work and that it is an expensive failure, Adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus’ parliamentary spokesperson on the Economy, says.

Adv. Alberts says the setting of BEE quotas is busy increasingly undermining the effective functioning of South Africa’s economy.

He said Volkswagen SA now acknowledges that it cannot get enough suppliers to meet the stricter BEE requirements. This means that Volkswagen could lose its BEE status and can in a number of ways then be punished by the state.

It could even lead to the withdrawal of Volkswagen from the South African market, with consequent huge job losses and damage to the country’s economy.

According to reports in Netwerk24, Mr. Thomas Schäfer, the chairperson and managing director of Volkswagen SA, warned that South Africa’s broader automotive industry –which contributed 7% to SA’s GDP in 2015 – will be destroyed if the government’s Automotive Production and Development Plan (APDP) for the automotive industry is linked to BEE requirements.

Adv. Alberts says it is time that the ANC government starts to reflect on this type of interference in the economy seriously.

“It is clear that it does not work because only a handful of unprofitable and politically connected individuals are being enriched with this system. The majority of the poor has never benefitted from this.

“If BEE does not exist, but the focus is placed on training and skills development from school level, the economy would already have fared better.

“By creating business opportunities in an artificial manner for a couple of well-connected and ignorant individuals in general, the poor is, in reality, being betrayed,” Adv. Alberts says.

Issued by Anton Alberts, FF Plus parliamentary spokesperson: Economy, 24 October 2016