Whether that claim stands up to empirical scrutiny or is not relevant today, the most important thing is that the feverish push towards more citizen empowerment is inspired by developments across the border. Second, any policy maker who lobbies hard for issues of citizen economic empowerment is sure to win wide public support. He will come across as caring and generous. Hence the almost unanimous support for economic empowerment in the legislature.
But just like South Africa, citizen economic empowerment is our version of affirmative action. The argument we make in support of economic empowerment is that historically, commercial banks have not been willing to offer Batswana financial support due to lack of security. As a result, we argue, citizen owned businesses have lagged behind. We have also argued that this lack of support by the traditional banking sector has undermined the growth of a robust, resilient and independent entrepreneurial class. Again my point today is not to argue with the merits or demerits of such arguments. I simply want us to recognize that economic empowerment is affirmative action. And affirmative action by virtue of being an extension of the welfare state is not a panacea to entrepreneurship, job creation and economic growth. It has its own limits and would stipulate that in cases where a citizen owned firm competes with a foreign-owned firm for a contract, the former must prevail. You see one of the limits of affirmative action is that it relegates merit in favour of other considerations. But then again merit cannot be relegated forever. An empowerment programme that seeks to help citizen entrepreneurs catch up with their foreign counterparts must be temporary. Maybe five, 10, 15 or 20 years, who knows? But certainly not open-ended.
Like any public policy instrument, citizen economic empowerment comes at a cost to those who happen not to be direct beneficiaries. At some point in time, consumers inevitably tire of economic nationalism and begin to question the wisdom of buying expensive goods and services just because fellow countrymen produce them.
The only sustainable empowerment programme that government possesses is the provision of equal opportunities in education to help people acquire skills. This is something that has worked successfully the world over. Even in the home of affirmative action, the United States of America, the majority of the successful black population owes its success to good education, first and foremost. Preferential schemes can only be temporary; otherwise they stifle the bedrock of economic growth, competition.
So it is the same old-fashioned remedy. Education, education and education.
