BEE: Helping or Hurting?

South Africa has arguably the most comprehensive and challenging affirmative action policies of any country in the world.

But is black economic empowerment (BEE) achieving its goal of correcting past injustices and opening up opportunities for black South Africans?

Or is it in practice more harmful than helpful?

BEE: Helping or Hurting? by Dr. Anthea Jeffery is the first comprehensive review of BEE policies since 1994, and Dr. Jeffery tackles this question head-on. She examines affirmative action in education and employment, along with the BEE generic codes and BEE in mining, the oil industry, and elsewhere. Dr. Jeffery also deals with the contentious issue of land reform in the book.

The book is unique in drawing all the different aspects of BEE together and explaining often complex rules in simple layman's terms. Dr. Jeffery also asks the challenging questions about the pros and cons of BEE that most commentators avoid.

How rapidly would the black middle class have grown without BEE? How much has BEE eroded South Africa's growth potential or otherwise cost the country? Since current rules are unlikely to assist the marginalised, has the time not come to shift from BEE to a new system of EED - or ‘economic empowerment for the disadvantaged'?

Anthea Jeffery holds law degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand and from Cambridge, and a doctorate in law from the University of London. Her previous books include Business and Affirmative Action; People's War: New Light on the Struggle for South Africa; and Chasing the Rainbow: South Africa's Move from Mandela to Zuma.

BEE: Helping or Hurting? by Dr. Anthea Jeffery is available in bookstores countrywide as of today.

Published by Tafelberg.

Statement issued by the Institute of Race Relations, October 6 2014

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