Repackaging Apartheid: The DA’s Economic Justice Policy A Step Backwards for SA

Phakamile Hlubi-Majola

Tariq Ali once wrote, 

“This is the permanent tension that lies at the heart of a capitalist democracy and is exacerbated in times of crisis. To ensure the survival of the richest, it is democracy that has to be heavily regulated rather than capitalism.”

— Tariq Ali, The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad

Ali argues that in times of crisis, such as financial crashes or pandemics, governments respond to protect the wealthy elite, rather than the broader population. To do this, they regulate democracy instead of regulating and reducing the influence of capitalism.

Ali’s words echo loudly in South Africa today, where the Democratic Alliance (DA) is pushing an economic agenda that mirrors the MAGA movement in the United States, which is anti-redress, anti-worker, and pro-market fundamentalism.

The DA’s Economic Justice Policy: A Misnomer

The recently launched ‘Economic Inclusion for All Bill’, which seeks to scrap Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), is not justice at all. It is a calculated rollback of hard-won gains made by Black South Africans since 1994.

Like MAGA, it weaponizes the language of meritocracy to deny the structural inequalities created by centuries of racial exclusion. It positions itself as the defender of efficiency and growth, while quietly dismantling policies designed to uplift the majority.

Let’s be clear, neoliberalism has failed. It cannot solve the deep racial and economic inequality created by apartheid. The DA’s obsession with market-driven solutions ignores the reality that the market is not neutral. It is historically white, male, and exclusionary.

Therefore, abandoning neoliberalism is not radical; it is a necessity. Countries like Brazil and China have lifted millions out of poverty by rejecting austerity and embracing redistributive policies. South Africa must learn from them and do the same.

The DA’s policies attack B-BEE, Affirmative Action (AA), and Employment Equity (EE), and this is not about economic growth or improving service delivery. The party of privilege has produced an alternative scorecard to the B-BBEE scorecard, which ignores ownership and management control as a method to measure transformation.

Instead, it gives an 80% weighting to cost effectiveness, regardless of whether an organization is racially transformed or not. This would effectively lock out Black businesses that cannot compete with large, established, mostly white owned firms. By ignoring ownership and management as key factors of transformation, the DA is disguising apartheid denialism and dressing it up as economic rationalism.

The DA’s Economic Justice Policy, which is a document that outlines its policies in detail, is not a roadmap to inclusion; rather, it is a manifesto for maintaining the status quo. It undermines gender equality, weakens labour protections, and ignores land reform.

Even BEE, in its diluted form, offends the DA because it challenges white ownership of capital. Let me remind you that this is the same party that celebrated the vigilantes of Phoenix, branding them as ‘heroes’ after Black people were murdered in cold blood. The DA’s anti-black track record speaks volumes.

Helen Zille’s alleged leaked audio from a 2019 DA Federal Council meeting revealed a strategy to use the ANC’s electoral decline to impose right-wing reforms. Her prediction came true in 2024, when the ANC dipped below 50% and entered a coalition with the DA. Now, the DA is using its leverage in the Government of National Unity (GNU) to push policies that reverse transformation and serve capital, not communities.

The ANC’s Legacy and Its Limitations

The ANC, for all its flaws, should be credited with expanding access to education and healthcare. It has built millions of houses, and, at the same time, the changes made to legislation, particularly labour law reforms, drastically improved workers’ rights compared to apartheid era legislation. While challenges remain, these reforms have made a tangible difference.  

Polices like AA and EE, which compel employers to employ women and people of colour, are among the mechanisms the state uses to force corporations to embrace diversity and equality in the workplace.

BBBEE deals have created opportunities for workers to access shares and ownership of companies through Employee Shareholding Schemes, and there have been initiatives to create avenues for rural women to participate in the economy through co-operatives.

However, even though BBBEE has been progressive, it is also true that a significant number of beneficiaries have been those with the closest proximity to the ANC. 

Transformation has been slow, largely because it relies on market mechanisms. The neoliberal macroeconomic framework underpinning these policies has proven globally incapable of transforming large numbers of lives quickly. The masses cannot wait another 30 or 50 years for wealth to ‘trickle down’ to them.

South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies on earth, with staggeringly high unemployment; at least 40% of the working population has given up looking for work. This is proof positive that neoliberalism is failing. 

Unfortunately, the ANC succumbed to the dictates of international finance by privatising State-Owned Entities (SOEs), which are key drivers of the economy and job creation. Properly funded and well-run SOEs could kick-start the economy and resolve the crisis of joblessness.

This flawed policy decision, compounded by high levels of corruption, has eroded public trust in its capacity to lead. These failures contributed to the ANC’s poor electoral performance and its partnership with the proverbial ‘devil.’

The DA’s narrative that BEE is "state-sponsored corruption" is a dangerous generalization. It smears thousands of hardworking Black entrepreneurs and perpetuates racist stereotypes. Yes, corruption exists, but this is not unique to BEE. White businesses have long benefited from fronting and loopholes. The DA’s selective outrage is revealing.

The Myth of Meritocracy

Despite progressive policies, the South African economy remains stubbornly white-owned. According to the BBBEE commission, not a single 100% Black-owned company is listed on the JSE. White people make up about eight per cent of the population, and yet seventy-three per cent of white men hold sixty-two percent of management roles.

In 2022, Stats SA reported that white South Africans earned the highest monthly median income of R21,000 compared to R4,684 for Black Africans. The Land audit reported that the white minority owns seventy-two percent of arable land. These numbers are part of the reason the masses are losing faith in the ANC. To accelerate transformation, South Africa must expand and intensify BEE and other redress policies, not scrap them.

Meritocracy, in a country built on bigotry, is a myth. You can’t pretend everyone starts at the same line when the race has been rigged for centuries. The DA’s vehement opposition to all progressive and transformative policies is an attempt to erase history and entrench privilege.

Markets and the Global Pushback against Redress

The rise of parties like the EFF and MK has spooked the markets. Their rhetoric on land and nationalization as a solution to decisively tackling race-based inequality has positioned them as more radical, and their appeal is growing.

The DA’s anti-BEE crusade is a distraction from the unfinished business of transformation, which the ANC was supposed to lead. It is a smokescreen to protect capital and scapegoat Black people for daring to demand justice.

The election of Donald Trump and the rise in fascist and racist values have given right-leaning politicians in the West an excuse to reverse the transformation. We must never forget that these are the same Western countries that propped up the Apartheid government for decades, and even now, the same markets are supporting genocidal Israel.

Therefore, a Coke-lite version of Apartheid, and a loosening of hard-won rights for the black majority, is the desired outcome. In fact, they would welcome a regime with an abundant pool of cheap labour, smaller unions, an unorganized working class, and, where state-imposed obligations on racial redress are greatly limited, or are non-existent. The markets are slaves to profiteering at all costs. After all, capital always thrives regardless of whether the system is slavery, apartheid, or colonialism.  

The DA, which unashamedly positions itself as a mouthpiece of these markets, is driving neoliberal libertarian ideology for its benefit. Far from expanding democracy or redressing apartheid’s legacy, the DA’s proposals take us backward. South Africa needs bold, redistributive policies that confront inequality head-on.

The ANC’s Dilemma: Resistance or Complicity?

The manufactured uproar regarding BEE reminded me of an African proverb which says: 

"Out of hatred for the cockroach, the ants voted for the insecticide. They all died, including the housefly that didn’t even vote." 

The ANC is at a crossroads. Even though it has publicly stated its opposition to the DA’s plan, one wonders how long it will hold out. Can the ANC resist the DA’s rollback of progress, or will it submit and become complicit in the MAGA-fication of Mzansi?”

* Phakamile Hlubi-Majola is a former journalist and professional Communicator. She writes in her personal capacity.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.