Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu attends the unveiling ceremony of a statue of Nelson Mandela at the City Hall in Cape Town, South Africa, July 24, 2018., his bold views on a range of topics have also come into sharp focus. November 2004, at an address at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Tutu questioned Black Economic Empowerment saying it seemed to benefit a small recycled elite.
Tutu asked then whether the proposed Basic Income Grant was not really a viable way forward, a topic that is still on the table 17 years later. Labour unions are currently calling for a Basic Income Grant of R1500. However, so far the government has extended the R350 social relief distress grant to cushion the effects of the pandemic on the poor and unemployed.
Since then, there have been many debates around the usefulness and of Black Economic Empowerment , with many saying it does not do what it was meant to do.