How ANC's collusion with big businesses undermines transformation

South Africa’s post-apartheid journey has been marked by a bold constitutional promise: to dismantle the economic structures of racial privilege and build a society where the black majority can share in the country’s wealth and opportunities. Central to this promise are the empowerment laws, Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Affirmative Action (AA), crafted to drive economic inclusion and redress decades of exclusion.

Yet, nearly three decades on, the slow pace of transformation and the growing backlash against these laws reveal a darker reality: a coordinated agenda, both local and global, to halt transformation, preserve white privilege, and enrich a narrow elite.

At the heart of this crisis lies a deeply troubling collusion between big business and ANC elites. A symbiotic relationship that has subverted the original intent of empowerment laws, turning them into tools for elite enrichment rather than broad-based economic justice.

The Promise and the Betrayal of Empowerment

When the ANC was unbanned in 1990 and South Africa embarked on its democratic journey, the vision was clear: to dismantle apartheid’s economic legacy and create a more equitable society. BEE and AA laws were designed to open doors for black South Africans through ownership, management, employment equity, and skills development.

There have been pockets of progress. Black ownership and representation in certain sectors have increased, and a black middle class has emerged. Some black entrepreneurs have thrived, and certain companies have made genuine strides in employment equity. But for the ordinary black South African, the man on the street, these gains have often been invisible or out of reach. Poverty, unemployment, and inequality remain entrenched, and the benefits of transformation have been captured by a small, politically connected elite.

This failure is no accident. It is the product of systemic corruption, incompetence, and a political will that has been fatally compromised by the very leaders entrusted with delivering transformation.

The Symbiotic Relationship Between Big Business and ANC Elites

Since the unbanning of the ANC, a problematic alliance has formed between big business and ANC political elites. White monopoly capital, anxious to protect its interests in the new dispensation, extended lucrative BEE deals to ANC insiders. This was not broad-based empowerment, it was a transactional pact: business secured access to government contracts, regulatory favour, and influence, while ANC elites gained wealth and power.

This arrangement has had devastating consequences for genuine transformation:

Elite Enrichment Through Selective BEE Deals: Instead of empowering the masses, many BEE deals were structured to benefit a narrow group of ANC-connected individuals. Shares, directorships, and business opportunities were handed to political insiders, creating a black elite that often mirrored the exclusivity of the apartheid-era white elite. The majority of black South Africans saw little direct benefit from these deals. Empirical evidence shows that many beneficiaries of these deals were ANC apparatchiks, with the majority of black South Africans seeing little direct benefit.

Board Appointments and Political Influence: At least 56 ANC politicians have held directorships in major JSE-listed companies, blurring the lines between political power and corporate governance. This overlap ensured that business interests were protected and that policies favoured entrenched elites rather than broad economic inclusion.

Research shows a significant overlap between ANC politicians and the boards of major JSE-listed companies. Many of them holding multiple directorships across a wide array of companies. This integration allowed big business to secure their interests by aligning with politically influential individuals, ensuring favourable treatment and policy influence, rather than driving genuine transformation.

Fronting and Window-Dressing: Many companies engaged in fronting, appointing black individuals to nominal positions to meet BEE requirements without transferring real control or economic benefit. This practice allowed companies to access government contracts and benefits fraudulently, undermining the integrity of empowerment laws. While real control and benefits remain with the original (often white) owners.

Examples include listing low-level black employees as company directors without their knowledge or creating side agreements that strip black shareholders of real power.

State Capture and Policy Manipulation: The alliance between business and ANC elites facilitated state capture, where government resources and policy were manipulated to serve private interests.

The mutually beneficial relationship between business and ANC elites has led to “state capture,” where business interests influence legislation and procurement processes for their own benefit, often at the expense of the broader public. This has included shaping policies to favour certain companies, securing lucrative government contracts, and manipulating regulatory frameworks to protect established interests.

The Bosasa scandal, for example, involved manufacturing BEE credentials and funnelling money to the ANC through corrupt tender processes, with cash bribes and fraudulent invoicing used to secure government business and support election campaigns.

This collusion has transformed empowerment laws from instruments of justice into mechanisms for elite enrichment and preservation of privilege. The focus on enriching a politically connected elite, rather than fostering broad-based participation and economic inclusion, has led to widespread public disillusionment and persistent inequality. The original vision of BEE as a tool for mass empowerment has been subverted by collusion between big business and ANC elites, resulting in a narrow base of beneficiaries and limited progress for the majority.

The Global Rightward Shift and the Anti-Transformation Agenda

Adding fuel to the fire is the global political climate. The rise of right-wing populism in the United States and elsewhere has emboldened anti-transformation forces in South Africa. Figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk have amplified narratives of white victimhood, including the false and dangerous “white genocide” myth targeting South Africa.

White interest groups such as the Democratic Alliance (DA), Solidarity, and Afriforum have seized this moment to push back against transformation. They cloak their agendas in rhetoric about “meritocracy” and “non-racialism,” but their true aim is to preserve apartheid-era privileges and slow the pace of change.

Meanwhile, as the ANC faces potential electoral decline, white monopoly capital is already seeking new political partners to maintain its influence, regardless of who governs. The anti-transformation agenda is thus both a local and international phenomenon, threatening to roll back the hard-won gains of the past three decades.

Successes, Failures, and the Road Ahead

It is important to acknowledge the successes. There are black entrepreneurs, professionals, and leaders who have leveraged empowerment laws to build businesses and create jobs. Some sectors have made genuine progress in diversifying ownership and management.

But these successes are exceptions, not the rule. The systemic failures of corruption, elite capture, fronting, and state capture have undermined the transformative potential of empowerment laws.

The struggle over South Africa’s empowerment laws is a struggle for the soul of the nation. Will the country continue down a path where transformation is hollowed out by corruption and elite collusion, or will it reclaim the constitutional imperative to build an inclusive economy for all its people? The stakes could not be higher.

Transformation is not a luxury or a political slogan, it is a constitutional imperative and a moral necessity. The alternative is a society permanently divided between a privileged minority and a dispossessed majority, with all the instability and conflict that entails.

The future of South Africa depends on breaking the cycle of elite capture and delivering real, broad-based empowerment that transforms lives, not just balance sheets. Only then can the promise of freedom and justice truly be fulfilled.

(Dube is a political economist, businessman, and social commentator on Ukhozi FM. His views don't necessarily reflect those of the Sunday Tribune or IOL)

SUNDAY TRIBUNE