Cape Town – Deputy President Paul Mashatile has warned that scrapping the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) policy would be akin to taking the country back to apartheid.
Mashatile appeared before the National Council of Provinces on Thursday to respond to questions from Members of Parliament in Cape Town, including concerns over the future of BBBEE and the persistent challenge of youth unemployment.
According to EWN, Mashatile insisted that BBBEE must be implemented more rigorously, pointing out that the majority of South Africa’s economy is still controlled by a minority.
He emphasised that BBBEE is not a race-based policy but a transformation tool that has benefitted both companies and ordinary South Africans. For this reason, he remains firmly opposed to calls for its abolition.
“It is not correct that in a country where black people make up about 90% of the population, 70% of the economy is still controlled by others. That cannot be allowed. It will never be allowed. We must implement policies to change that. Anyone who says we must scrap it is effectively saying we must go back to apartheid,” Mashatile said.
His remarks come amid growing criticism of BBBEE, including from the South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR), which has urged a revision of its labour provisions to help create more jobs and opportunities.
Mashatile also addressed youth unemployment, noting that government is pursuing several collaborative initiatives to address the crisis.
[WATCH] Today I appeared in the National Council of Provinces to answer questions from members of Parliament in Cape Town. #MashatileQandA #MashatileNCOP#ExecutiveAccountability#PaulMashatile pic.twitter.com/N7zhsxPKIV
— Paul Mashatile🇿🇦 (@PMashatile) September 11, 2025
“By improving labour market function through skills training, work experience, entrepreneurship support and also wage subsidies.
“Furthermore, government is utilising labour intensive programmes, like the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), also Public Employment Programmes (PEP’s), and Community Work Programmes (CWP)”, said Mashatile.
The initiatives will ensure the provision of temporary employment and income support to the unemployed youth in sectors, which include infrastructure, environment, and social services.
“To this end, cabinet approved phase 5 of the EPWP, and this was done in February last year. Which aims to create five million work opportunities between April 2024 to March 2029 –with an estimated budget projected to be R178 billion–in that period of 5 years”, added Mashatile.
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Compiled by Anda Tolibadi
