AfriForum rejects government’s plan to force private companies to finance new R100 billion racially discriminatory fund

AfriForum has made it clear that the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition’s proposed plan to expropriate 3% of annual net profit after tax from businesses for a new R100 billion racially discriminatory “transformation fund”, is both immoral and destructive.

Parks Tau, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, proposed the abovementioned fund during his Department’s recent annual performance plan presentation to the Portfolio Committee. This fund, administered by the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), will issue funding in accordance with BBBEE racial criteria.

In addition to AfriForum’s moral objections to any fund which distributes finances based on race, this fund poses a serious risk for corruption. The significant levels of corruption and looting that plagued the government’s R500 billion Covid-19 support funds serves as the perfect example of this risk. Finally, decades of racially discriminatory policies under ANC government have failed dismally to reach its stated goals of uplifting the poor and addressing the unemployment crisis. Unemployment has, as a matter of fact, drastically risen since the introduction of these new race laws.

According to Ernst van Zyl, Head of Public Relations at AfriForum, the last thing the struggling South African economy needs is a further government tax and more racial discrimination to worsen an already hostile and taxed-to-death business environment. “The ANC’s failed race-obsessed experiment has gone on for long enough. It is time to give meritocracy and a business-friendly approach a chance,” adds Van Zyl.

“The South African government already has more than 141 race laws on its books, which qualify it as the most race-mad government in the world. This shocking statistic is a source of shame, not something to be celebrated or even expanded upon,” concludes Van Zyl.

AfriForum has launched a petition where the public can demand an end to the government’s racially discriminatory laws. Click here to sign the petition.