Share

Blacks still have a raw deal - Mkhize

Johannesburg - ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize has taken a swipe at corporate South Africa, saying its lack of transformation means black people still face an unfair battle when climbing the corporate ladder.

In fact, businesses had managed to reverse some of their transformation gains, he told the Black Business Council’s (BBC’s) radical economic transformation summit at the Industrial Development Corporation on Friday.

“We need to deal with the fact that there is, at the moment, hardly a change in the number of white CEOs and male CEOs, which is at 68% to 70%.”

He said there had been a decrease in the proportion of black CEOs, from 15% in 2002 to 9% in 2015, indicating a reversal in the gains of transformation in the private sector.

“Largely, the problem of confidence and the trust deficit between government and the private sector is an issue that has caused us quite a bit of challenges.

“All those companies, corporate entities, bodies that are kind of committed to transformation, look at their pipeline of leaders,” he said, adding that in the top 40 JSE-listed companies, almost 80% of the CEOs were either white or foreign.

He said the lack of transformation in boardrooms across the economic sectors needed to be addressed with the help of government.

Quoting sentiments he had heard from an analyst, which he said had made a big impression on him, Mkhize said black people in corporations still needed to go the extra mile to be considered equal to their white peers.

There was a tendency to demonise black-owned companies who did business with government, with phrases like “tenderpreneurs”, and consider them intrinsically corrupt.

“At the end of the day, government is the largest procurer of goods and services and is the largest financial customer for anybody.

“You have the biggest companies thriving on the basis of doing business with government,” he said.

Mkhize also took a swipe at the financial services sector and said it still regarded black people as a higher risk.

“In the past they did not finance you because you were black and living in a township.

“Today, if you're black you are a higher risk than if you are white. The issues are there is no law against it.”

Speaking earlier, BBC president Danisa Baloyi said the state had given a foreign company a banking licence and none to locals. She was presumably referring to TymeDigital getting the go-ahead for digital banking.

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE UPDATE: Get Fin24's top morning business news and opinions in your inbox.

Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter:

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.89
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.83
+0.3%
Rand - Euro
20.36
+0.3%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.31
+0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders