Truth is somewhere in between: an ethnographic account of Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) in South Africa - a work in progress
Date
2010-08-27
Authors
Kim, Soon Jong
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Abstract
Abstract
Dissertation Title: Truth is Somewhere In Between: An Ethnographic Account of Broad Based
Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) in South Africa
Broad Based Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) policy, codes and scorecard were finalised in
2007 in South Africa. In an attempt to eradicate economic polarity, the policy’s aim is to
pursue concurrent economic growth and social distribution. The goal is honourable, but is it
achievable? Progress among all affected parties needs to be investigated and evaluated. In
addition to much confusion arising between the policy’s discourses and practices, the
uneasy logic of BBBEE in the neo‐capitalistic state of South Africa faces resistance and
various challenges. Adopting an anthropological research approach, this paper makes
particular use of participant observation in an effort to deconstruct the multilayered BBBEE
concept and its practice. An examination of a firm that achieved broad based empowerment
score provides the necessary ethnographic data. The dynamics of organisational culture,
management and their BBBEE implementation, together with the perspectives of various
stakeholders such as those within the community, government and among consultants, are
all explored. BBBEE score, for all intents and purposes, was perceived as being irrelevant to
the actual employees and their daily operations. To the degree that it may have been
pertinent, the constant battles of culture and perceptions between various people and
positions aggravated any hope of a possible point of reconciliation. Capitalist determination
among all parties exists at the core of economic game they consent to play. Despite the
policy’s effort to transform the management paradigm, the traditional organisational
structure and practice is largely upheld and consequently, empowerment remains merely in
the realm of discourses among both practitioners and beneficiaries. Narrow based
empowerment persists as the dominant view of many and, as a result, BBBEE remains a
sheer bureaucratic baby, impotent at bringing about any meaningful cultural transformation
in the current economic trend of South Africa.