Lecture delivered by Dr. Thami Mazwai 
26 July 2016

Contextualising Dr Don Bongani Mkhwanazi ’s crusade and frustrations on BEE and the transformation of the economy

Early this month we were gathered in the adjoining ICC to bid farewell to Dr Don Bongani Mkhwanazi, a doyen of black business and one of the foremost champions of the economic transformation of post-apartheid South Africa. Ndonga, as many of us called him, ebengumntu ebantwini. I am thus deeply honoured to be asked to give the first Don Mkhwanazi Memorial Lecture as, in many respects, Ndonga was the personification of BEE. He was supposed to have given this lecture which was part of a provincial series to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Black Management Forum (BMF).

In its wisdom, the current leadership asked former presidents to give these lectures at the planned provincial gatherings to link the past withthefuture, and ensure consistency of purpose and vision. Although I am not a former president of the BMF, the task fell on me to give this lecture because Ndonga and I held hands as we walked this path. Still, this is a daunting challenge for humble me to pay tribute to a stalwart of such magnitude. To get to the point, BEE has consistently been contested by many in the private sector,international community and its multinationals who persistently maintain that it constrains FDI and our participation in the global market. We respond by reminding these of the numerous countries in which they comply with demands in terms of local participation, to no avail. 

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Shortened biography of Dr. Thami Mazwai, July 2016

Dr. Thami Mazwai is Special Advisor to the Minister of Small Business Development. He is on the National Planning Commission and his brief is on small business. He is also a member of the President’s Advisory Council on BBBEE. He is Extra-Ordinary Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of the Western Cape (UWC); resident executive at the Wits Business School and Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Fort Hare....

The below image is a picture of part of the audience at the event