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The Brenthurst Initiative seeks tax breaks as an incentive for empowerment, and also calls for a balance between economic growth and transformation.
President Thabo Mbeki has welcomed the proposal as he sees it stimulating discussion and debate on the subject of transformation.
"I don't agree with the tax incentives contained in the Brenthurst Initiative. The quantum of the tax incentives are too large," said Black Management Forum's past president, Bheki Sibiya on Monday.
"Transformation is the biggest challenge for business leadership in South Africa," he added.
The Oppenheimer family argues that for South Africa to cut unemployment and drive transformation there needs to be strong growth.
"South Africa must both grow and transform. A failure to transform is clearly unacceptable, but slow growth will reduce severely our capacity to transform," the Brenthurst Initiative document says.
"Under apartheid black people were oppressed while white people accumulated wealth, do we need to again pay for the apartheid sins (with tax breaks)? The Brenthurst Initiative is logical but emotionally unintelligent," Sibiya added.
He warned that South Africa will experience a repeat of the disastrous situation in Zimbabwe if transformation failed in South Africa.
"Transformation is key to the South African economy and if it isn't done South Africa is likely to default to anarchy," said Ernest Oppenheimer & Sons' representative Jonathan Oppenheimer.
The Oppenheimer family has a 45% in the world's largest diamond miner De Beers.
The Brenthurst Initiative and South Africa's business elite was also criticised for a lack of patriotism.
"This is a group of robber barons, which list elsewhere, and don't see South Africa as a country to invest in," one delegate said.
The Brenthurst Initiative was also seen decreasing the government's tax base.
The Brenthurst Initiative was also criticised for being too limited, a criticism which Oppenheimer acknowledged was valid.
