If you are white, you are out as tenders go says Pravin Gordhan

12 March 2009. South Africa. Gauteng. Johannesburg. Members of the Afriforum Youth protested outside the Department of Labour against Affirmative action.
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June 29, 2019 0

If you are white, you are out as tenders go says Pravin Gordhan
South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan reacts during a media briefing in Sandton near Johannesburg March 14, 2016. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo

Ironic that Pravin Gordhan was the man who implemented the BBBEE regulations that contributed greatly to the demise of Eskom and other SOE”s and forbade business with any company not under black control.

Ironic because, as the current minister for Public Enterprises,  he  now has to fix the problems he helped to create previously when he was the minister for Finance.

Gordhan, as minister of Finance, implemented certain regulations in 2017 which  were derived from a law enacted in 2000, called The Law on the Framework for Preferential Aquisition Policy.

The regulations implemented under Gordhan gave State Owned Enterprises like Eskom the authority to implement their own discretionary and arbitrary minimum black economic empowerment requirements.
These regulations come down to the race based exclusion of companies not under black control. As experience has taught us, these regulations were used to empower a small elite , very well connected group of individuals over and over, many times these regulations were used to give massive multi billion rand  tenders to family members of executives of SOE’s.

The regulations drove up prices and gave corruption and kickbacks to politicians a massive boost. It automatically excluded a whole ethnic group from doing business with the State.

It automatically relegated all whites to second  class citizens and   disallowed them to use their knowledge and skill to earn a living and contribute to society. This is of course discrimination on the basis of skin colour but it also affected all South Africans who now have to pay exorbitant fees for electricity because of the implosion that these regulations caused at Eskom.

It also just proves the point that as far as the minority goes, there really are no good ANC politicians.

These regulations indeed mean the automatic disqualification of any tender coming from any company not under complete black ANC cadre control. In simple language it means whites don’t need to apply.

Sakeliga, which is part of Afriforum, is now fighting in the courts against this discriminatory legislation and the next step for them is taking their case to the Supreme Court of Appeal after the Johannesburg High Court struck down Sakeliga’s appeal. There is little hope for Sakeliga’s case however as the highest courts in the land repeatedly ruled in favor of discriminatory legislation. This is Africa now, and here whites are not welcome anymore it seems.

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