Gary Player on the occasion of his 90th birthday on Saturday, said South Africa has to get rid of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act.
South Africa’s greatest-ever sportsman, was speaking during a weather delay in the Gary & Vivienne Player Invitational at Sun City.
As a farm owner and investor in South Africa, Player inferred that the SA government needed to rethink it’s policies.
Policies like the Expropriation Act without compensation under specific, exceptional circumstances. The Act has already been signed into law but has not commenced yet.
Addressing South Africa’s Investment Challenges: No Compensation Bill and BEE System Concerns
“South Africa, we’ve got problems. Got big problems. Introducing a bill, no compensation. So in other words, I brought back hundreds of millions of Rands to South Africa. I bought farms and property,” said Player.
“They could come in and take it. That means they’re stealing it. So we are discouraging people to invest. We’ve got to get rid of that law.
Player said he has approached government to no avail about his concerns.
“They [SA government] weren’t listening, but they don’t listen. They’re not prepared to listen. And you’ve got to get rid of this BEE system.
“People are not prepared to come here and invest money. We’ve got to have systems like the rest of the world. Where you encourage people to come and invest.”
Addressing South Africa’s Crime and Unemployment Challenges
The nine-time major golf champion went on to speak about the crime rate and unemployment in South Africa.
“Our crime is the highest in the world. We’ve got 20 million squatters, they won’t admit it, but we’re a land of squatter camps now.
“We’ve got such a high unemployment. What about our young people that are graduating? Our young people in this country can’t find a job. It’s dangerous. That’s very dangerous.
“So we’ve got to make changes. We’ve got to change like the rest of the world. Where we meet people’s requirements. We can’t just do what we think is right, because it suits us.We’ve got to do things that suit the people of our country. We’ve got such wonderful people in this country. And we’ve really, we’ve got to change. If we don’t change, we’re in big trouble.”
@Michael_Sherman
IOL Sport
