Empowerment. A lawful initiative to obtain equality or reversed apartheid

Abstract: When the African National Congress won the South African election in 1994, the white minority rule ended and a new era of peaceful political, social and economical transformation began. Black Economic Empowerment was, and still is, one of the main pillars of this process, developed and designed especially to overcome the racial, social and economic rift between white and black South Africans left by the apartheid regime. It was created to empower black people and enable them to become an integral part of the economy. The Black Economic Empowerment initiative is however one of great controversy. It has as many critics as it has followers, especially the affirmative action part of it. In this master thesis I discuss the subject of Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa, first and foremost seen from a legal point of view. I focus on the affirmative action part of BEE and discuss whether or not the legal frameworks support it and if so; how the regulations are constructed. In this process I include both relevant national and international frameworks. I look into the legal structure and functions and if these result in generating violations of international conventions and humans right standards, e.g. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. My thesis includes an analysis of the legal elements that embody the affirmative action part of the Black Economic Empowerment initiative, but I also put Black Economic Empowerment in a social, economical and political context where I discuss progress made, as well as trials and tribunals, relevant factors and events. I discuss the concept that is BEE; what it is, what led up to it, why it is important and what the positive and negative aspects of BEE are.