September 16, 2012

Manenburg is a township, or rural and underdeveloped area in Cape Town previously designated for blacks and coloreds during the apartheid era. Every Tuesday I travel there to help teach English and literacy to the students at the local elementary school. With this opportunity I was able to speak with some of the students parent as well as the student helpers that work in the school. What I found was an enormous lack of information concerning BBBEE.  The only knowledge on the subject came from “Uncle” Cyril, the school’s principal. Unfortunately, his experience with the program revealed that it had no benefits for the school despite the fact that his entire staff is black.

Cebile Mfundisi

Uncle Cyril

Cebile Mfundisi, mother to one of my students Loli, commented that BBBEE was supposed to help single mothers but had no idea how or why. Likewise, she knew that the ANC was the political force behind it. As BBBEE is always changing and an intricate system of checks, verifications and scorecards, its understanding has proved elusive for businesses and therefore near impossible for the average worker. Furthermore it doesn’t apply to the major concerns of the everyday worker. When interviewed, most of the parents listed healthcare and transportation as their primary concerns, and proceeded to ask me how BBBEE could help them with that.

It’s also notable that the majority of those in townships work in the informal sector and are probably self employed. BBBEE only applies to formal enterprises. BBBEE states that it works to encourage and incorporate blacks into the economic  realm of business, yet the vast majority of blacks are engaged in the informal sector leading to the current state of a small minority prospering from BBBEE.

Manenberg Township

Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment has shown to be everything but broad. They want to encourage black ownership and participation but lack the skilled workforce. They want to incorporate blacks into the business world but lack the infrastructure and means of conveying the proper information. After speaking to some in Manenburg, it is no surprise that the system has been met with increasing disapproval, cynicism and disappointment.