LETTER: DA offers a credible alternative to ANC’s BBBEE model
The opposition party’s bottom-up approach ensures it is not only elites and the politically connected who benefit
The letter from Institute of Race Relations CEO Frans Cronje, “DA Plays a Dangerous Game” (February 13), deserves a response. Cronje’s main attack point is that there is nothing to distinguish the DA from the ANC on broad-based BEE (BBBEE), and that the DA has in effect adopted the ANC’s model of BBBEE and the mantra that “race is a proxy for disadvantage”, implying that we are dabbling in racial nationalist populism. The DA believes that race is a proxy for disadvantage, but not the only proxy. There is a growing black middle class that is well-evidenced, and thus race cannot be the only determinant going forward. One also needs to look at other social-economic factors beyond race. The current ANC system of BBBEE is a top-down approach that looks to benefit elites and connected individuals at the top, creating a small pool of enriched people. The DA believes in a bottom-up approach, which sets us apart from the ANC. A bottom-up approach needs to focus on education and skills, from ...
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