ActionSA has proposed a new Opportunity Fund to help advance transformation in South Africa, supported by a 5 levy on company profits instead of enforcing Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment BBBEE.
This is part of a range of proposals the party announced at an economic transformation media briefing on Wednesday 7 May.
ActionSA proposes Opportunity Fund levy for transformationActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said the governments implementation of BBBEE and Affirmative Action/Employment Equity policies has been weakened by all manners of incompetence and selective application.
He thus called for a national dialogue on transformation to develop alternatives to the failed policies of BBBEE.
He added that ActionSA will table a Draft Resolution in the National Assembly to establish an Ad-Hoc Committee, which will investigate, deliberate and shape urgent reforms aimed at achieving genuine and transformative economic justice.
The partys proposed essential policy levers on transformation include:
- Inclusive Economic Empowerment.
- Social Investment Grants.
- Housing, Land Reform and Spatial Justice.
- Gender Justice.
- Social Cohesion.
On Inclusive Economic Empowerment, we are proposing a fundamental shift from elite enrichment to grassroots empowerment, Mashaba explained.
At the centre of this approach is the Inclusive Economic Empowerment Act, which will establish a bold new vehicle: the Opportunity Fund.
This fund will replace the failed BBBEE framework, through which the ANC African National Congress has tried - and failed - for two decades to engineer transformation by enriching politically connected tenderpreneurs.
The fund will invest in tertiary education, entrepreneurial stimulus and public infrastructure in under-served communities, he said.