Knowhow is what needs to be ‘redistributed’, but that is a slow process
However radical a change you want to achieve, knowhow cannot be expropriated or extracted, like teeth, from the brains that possess it now
It has been a quarter of a century since apartheid ended, and 23 since the ANC took power in SA, but, as President Jacob Zuma reported in his state of the nation address in February, the country’s whites remain in control. "White households earn at least five times more than black households," said Zuma, and "only 10% of the top 100 companies on the JSE are owned by black South Africans." Whites still represent 72% of top management. The Gini coefficient, a widely-used measure of inequality, shows no sign of falling and remains one of the highest in the world. These outcomes come after 14 years of black economic empowerment (BEE), which created all sorts of incentives and constraints to foster black participation in ownership, management, control, skills development, procurement and entrepreneurship. White equity owners were required to sell shares to blacks in equity deals that were often highly leveraged and publicly financed. But, Zuma argues, the outcomes fall short of the goal ...
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