- Statement by Mat Cuthbert MP – DA Head of Policy:
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has taken its fight to replace the ANC’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy to Parliament, where the Economic Inclusion for All Bill is set for its first reading on Thursday.
This marks a major step in reforming South Africa’s approach to empowerment policy.
There is no question that redress remains a national imperative. But after 30 years, BEE has failed to deliver meaningful inclusion. Instead, it has enriched a politically connected few, while millions remain locked out of real economic opportunity.
The Economic Inclusion for All Bill offers a credible alternative. It shifts the focus from compliance checklists and paper-based ownership deals to measurable outcomes that expand opportunity in the real economy.
At its core is the reform of public procurement, one of the most powerful tools for driving inclusion, given the state’s R1.2 trillion procurement budget.
The Bill replaces race-based procurement rules with a simplified, outcomes-driven preference-points system that prioritises value for money and genuine economic inclusion.
Under this model, companies are rewarded for what South Africa needs most:
- Creating jobs.
- Investing in infrastructure.
- Developing skills.
- Supporting small businesses to grow.
It also strengthens accountability by introducing tougher consequences for fraud and corruption, ensuring that public funds are used transparently and in the interests of all South Africans.
Crucially, this approach recognises a simple truth: there is no meaningful empowerment without economic growth.
By aligning empowerment with investment and job creation, the Bill seeks to drive inclusive growth that expands opportunity, rather than concentrating it in the hands of the few.
The first reading of this Bill marks the beginning of a critical parliamentary process to replace a failing system that works for some with one that works for all.
Fuzzy Rainbow
Van is getting married, but he and his fiancee have never done the deed – in fact he\’s never been with any woman before. He\’s getting more and more nervous as the big day approaches, so he confides in his friend. His friend says \’No worries man. I\’ll come by the honeymoon suite before you guys get there, and I\’ll hide behind the curtain, and I\’ll whisper instructions to you.\’
\’You\’d do that for me?\’
\’Sure thing man!\’
So the wedding day arrives, it was a lovely service (so I was told, I wasn\’t there myself) and Van\’s friend sneaks into the honeymoon suite as promised and hides behind the curtain.
Van and his new wife arrive in the room, get settled on the bed, and things are getting steamy.
But Van is still super nervous and his tummy is bubbling, so he murmers to his wife, \’Listen babe, I\’m just gonna go to the bathroom quick. I think it\’s that wors roll from earlier.\’
\’Sure thing babe.\’
So Van goes into the bathroom, and he\’s taking quite a long time. And his wife is starting to feel the nerves herself. And it\’s getting worse. She can\’t hold it in. But she doesn\’t want to go after he\’s gone and totally ruin the mood. So she looks around and finally finds a shoebox. Quickly, she does her business in the shoebox, and she shoves it under the bed just as Van comes back from the loo.
Van gets back on the bed and they go at it again. But after a minute or so Van smells something not so lekker.
\’What\’s that smell?\’
\’Nothing babe,\’ he wife tries to assure him.
\’No man there\’s definitely something not so lekker in this room!\’VSo Van starts looking around the room, in the corners, in the cupboard, and finally he looks under the bed, and sees the shoebox.
He pull it out, and opens it up, and in horror he shouts \’Sies! Daar\’s kak in hierdie doos!\’
And from behind the curtain his friend yells, \’NEE MAN, DRAAI HAAR OM!\”
Homerun Diva
Fun South African Fact: Some of the earliest evidence of human evolution has been unearthed at fossil sites northwest of Johannesburg in the Sterkfontein Caves! Archaeologists have discovered human remains here, some of which are more than 2 million years old! These discoveries have earned the area the title of “the Cradle of Humankind” which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.