The head of South Africas flagship Black Economic Empowerment Programme plans to introduce additional incentives and potential fines to improve corporate participation and curb exploitation of the system meant to tackle the countrys gross inequality, he said.
The African National Congress(ANC), which had ruled unchallenged for 30 years until it lost its parliamentary majority in May elections, is under intense pressure to improve the lives of black people left disadvantaged by decades of white minority rule.
The empowerment law enacted in 2003, created a scorecard system that encourages companies to hire and promote black people by offering them tax breaks and access to government contracts.
Two decades later, unemployment is five times higher for black people than for white people and income inequality is the worst in the world, according to the World Bank, and critics say the empowerment policy has not worked.
Theres no society that can be viable with (this) level of inequality, Tshediso Matona, head of the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Commission told Reuters.
