Mashatile Opens Door on DA Empowerment Bill as Voters Turn Against BEE

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has given the clearest signal yet that the African National Congress (ANC) may support reform of South Africa’s empowerment regime.

Speaking this week to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), he said he would support any legislation introduced by members of parliament, regardless of which party they are from as long as they are aligned with governmental priorities. In an oral reply session in the chamber he told the Democratic Alliance (DA) that government would consider the party’s proposed empowerment policy. He said that he would: “look at it” and: “if it’s good, takes us forward, why not” support it.

Mashatile was referring to a new proposed empowerment policy which the DA introduced last month, called the Economic Inclusion for All Bill. It proposes replacing the existing race-based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy with a poverty-based model and would tie government procurement to measurable outcomes such as job creation and poverty reduction.

Mashatile’s remarks in the NCOP come after he said in the National Assembly (Parliament’s lower house) that BEE is under review.

The DA welcomed Mashatile’s remarks in both the National Assembly and NCOP arguing that its Economic Inclusion for All Bill is currently the only concrete alternative on the table.

Fresh polling* from the Social Research Foundation suggests Mashatile’s new flexibility is closely aligned with public opinion. In a national survey conducted this month, respondents were presented with the DA proposal to replace BEE with an empowerment policy that uses poverty, not race, to determine who needs upliftment, and were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the policy.

Among all voters, 67% said they agreed with the policy and 25% said they disagreed, meaning a strong majority of South Africans are in favour of reforming BEE.

The most striking finding sits inside the ANC’s own base. Among ANC supporters, 61% agreed while 28% disagreed with the DA’s proposed BEE reforms.

*The Social Research Foundation’s Q4 2025 Market Survey was commissioned by the Foundation and conducted by Victory Research among 1 002 registered voters between 27 October and 14 November 2025 using telephonic CATI interviews. A single-frame random digit-dialling design was used, drawing from all possible South African mobile numbers to ensure that every number had an equal probability of selection, with national sim card penetration exceeding 250%, more than 90% of adults owning a phone, and mobile networks covering 99.8% of the population, giving universal practical coverage. The sample was fully weighted to match the national registered voter population across all key demographics, including language, age, race, gender, education, income, and urban or rural location. Turnout modelling assigned each respondent a probability of voting based on questions measuring their likelihood of participation, with the primary turnout model set at 52.8%. The poll carries a 4.0% margin of error at a 95% confidence level, with a design effect of 1.762.