Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
2 June 2025 | 12:00 CAT
3 min read

On the Debrief Report, political analyst and journalist Qaanitah Hunter shared a hard-hitting analysis of South Africa’s current economic challenges, the future of transformation, and the deepening political divide around Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).

Speaking on the state of the economy, Hunter did not mince her words. “When first quarter GDP figures for 2025 are released, you will finally know whether the government’s ambitious 3% growth target is a realistic goal or a pipe dream. Spoiler, it is the latter,” she said.

According to Hunter, South Africa’s sluggish growth is not a recent phenomenon. She pointed out that the World Bank has said the country’s economy grew by an average of just 0.7% over the past decade — a rate that is nowhere near sufficient to tackle deep-rooted problems such as poverty, unemployment, and inequality.

At the centre of the national debate lies a critical question: Is economic transformation the reason for South Africa’s poor growth, or is the lack of transformation the real issue?

“There has been renewed debate and conversation around broad-based economic empowerment. It is an old debate that has resurfaced with new vigour because of two things. One is the global anti-diversity sentiment creeping into South Africa, and the second is the persisting downturn of the economy,” she said.

Hunter acknowledged that while BEE has enabled some individuals to advance, including herself, the policy in its current form has not lived up to its promise. “Someone like President Cyril Ramaphosa himself is a beneficiary of BEE and became a billionaire as a result. What it did not do is transcend a very small circle and empower masses of people,” she added.

She stressed that while some progress has been made, the broader impact has fallen short. “Yes, it is difficult to say on a blanket scale whether all these transformation policies failed. Yes and no. Because you and I would not have gone to university or been in the positions we are today without deliberate efforts at transformation. But on the flip side, more people are reliant on social grants, and the economy is not growing,” she noted.

Hunter also addressed the sharp polarisation in the transformation debate, identifying three key camps: On one extreme, some argue for retaining BEE as is, despite criticism. “People like President Ramaphosa say, why do people expect black people not to be rich, not to make money? Must black people continue to be labourers?” she explained.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Democratic Alliance, which wants to scrap race-based transformation entirely. “They said the proposed R100 billion transformation fund is going to be another looting fund. They believe transformation efforts have become synonymous with corruption,’ she noted.

The third and more pragmatic camp is calling for reform, not abandonment, of transformation. “What if we begin tinkering to understand that while a transformation fund is necessary, as it is currently designed, it is set up for failure?” Hunter questioned.

She highlighted how past initiatives, such as COVID-19 relief funds, were misused. “It became a cesspool of corruption and a looting frenzy scheme for ANC-connected individuals,” she said.

Hunter stressed the need for new, smarter legislation with better guardrails. “The question now is, can you talk about what BEE 2.0 looks like? Or is the conversation stuck in a binary… should we have transformation laws or should we not?”

She warned against completely dismantling transformation policies. “I worry about a world where we just completely do away with all transformation initiatives because the existing ones have failed. Because even with these laws, the ownership of our economy is still very much white. The management of our economy is still very much white,” she said.

Hunter argued for a balanced path forward that recognises the failures of the past but does not abandon the goal of economic justice. “Poverty is still very much racialised in South Africa. You cannot shy away from the fact that poverty is a function of a 300-year racialised system that oppressed black people,” she stressed.

The real challenge lies in designing policies that truly serve the many, not just the few.

LISTEN to the full interview with Muallimah Shaakira Hunter and Qaanitah Hunter, here.