FT News Briefing South Africans question future of Black empowerment policies
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Oct 22, 2025 A recent tax dispute has hit Netflix's profits hard, sparking discussions on corporate earnings. Unilever faces delays due to the U.S. government shutdown, affecting its €15bn ice cream division. Gold faced its worst sell-off in over a decade, plunging 6%. Meanwhile, South Africa grapples with the effectiveness of Black empowerment policies, with critics arguing they have led to elite capture rather than broad economic growth. Calls for reform grow as the nation seeks to better support Black entrepreneurship in a struggling economy.
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Policy Enriched Few, Not Many
- Black Economic Empowerment aimed to close apartheid-era gaps by mandating black representation and ownership in businesses.
- Rob Rose says it largely enriched a small political elite instead of broad-based black South Africans.
Share Transfers, Not Entrepreneurship
- Implementation focused on share transfers and executive quotas rather than fostering entrepreneurship.
- The result transferred roughly a trillion rand of assets to about 100 people, says an academic cited by Rob Rose.
Business Owner's Frustration
- Business owner Sipo said Black Economic Empowerment 'wasn't really for the man on the street' but for the well-connected.
- That firsthand complaint underscores wider public frustration with the policy's outcomes.