By Zukile Majova
Political Editor
Black Economic Empowerment has become a get-rich-quick scheme that can only be utilised by using race and political connections.
Speaking at the launch of the Freedom Front Plus’ manifesto at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria at the weekend, party leader Dr Pieter Groenewald said the political allocation of South Africa’s resources to a select few was not very different from the cruel system of apartheid that allowed only a minority to access the resources of the state.
“BEE is not an empowerment of the masses. It’s the black elite enrichment system. That’s what it is. “It’s only the politically-connected people who benefit from BEE,” Groenewald said.
He said the ANC created a new apartheid in South Africa which is an apartheid of those politically-connected and the ordinary citizens and taxpayers of South Africa.
“If you talk about apartheid that’s a crime against humanity. And this is a new apartheid,” he said.
He called for the country to abandon and do away with affirmative action once and for all.
“You want the best people to do the job. And if you are not competent to do the job, you are going to cost me as a business person money which I cannot afford.”
The FF Plus, which has grown in recent elections, is now the fifth-biggest party with 10 Members of Parliament. It also had a strong showing in the local government elections.
The party received 415,000 votes in the 2019 general elections and improved to garner 550,000 votes in municipal elections. This translates to 221 seats in councils across the country.
Groenewald called for Eskom’s grip on the national grid to be loosened to allow more private sector players to provide alternative forms of energy.
In other election campaigns, UDM leader Bantu Holomisa launched his party manifesto at Gallagher Estate in Midrand.
The EFF launched its manifesto for Gauteng in Soweto, with Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi as its premier candidate for the richest province.
Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto Wesizwe party (MK) took its campaign to Pietermaritzburg on Sunday, after a service delivery protest through the streets of Durban on Saturday.
The ANC went to Mpumalanga, where it put up a public display of sangomas who marshalled the powers of the African ancestors to help the party win the 29 May elections.
The IFP, which is launching its election manifesto at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on 10 March, has been drumming up support in various regions across KwaZulu-Natal.
The party is under pressure to prove its popularity with urban middle-class voters after years of being seen as a Zulu traditionalist movement anchored across the uThukela River.
Pictured above: FF Plus leader Dr Pieter Groenewald during the party’s election manifesto launch in Heartfelt Arena, Pretoria on Saturday.
Image source: X
