The Democratic Alliance (DA) has hit out against its Government of National Unity partner the African National Congress (ANC), in a new billboard that blames the yellow party for failed broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) policy.

The billboard, which reads “BEE made ANC elites rich, and left SA poor. Choose real opportunities for all! Vote DA,” was launched on Tuesday, on the N1 highway in Johannesburg.

DA head of policy Mat Cuthbert said the advertisement was telling the truth about what many South Africans already supposedly know, that BEE had failed under the ANC.

“It has made a handful of politically connected individuals wealthy, while the rest of the country has been left behind. For three decades, this policy has been sold as empowerment, but it has delivered the opposite. Millions remain locked out of the economy, with 12-million South Africans unable to find work and 44-million struggling just to afford their next meal. While a few benefit from inflated contracts and state tenders, the majority continue to pay the price for corruption and greed,” he said.

The DA wants the policy replaced with its Economic Inclusion for All Bill, which it launched last week, urging the ANC to support it.

The party’s Economic Inclusion for All Bill seeks to amend the Public Procurement Amendment Act of 2024, to repeal all race-based preferential procurement provisions and replace them with an empowerment system that targets poverty as the proxy for disadvantage instead of race.

The Bill aims to create a public procurement system that encourages economic empowerment by offering incentives for developmental outcomes such as job creation, poverty reduction, skills enhancement and environmentally sustainable practices.

“We aim to reform South Africa’s public procurement framework by aligning it with Section 217 of the Constitution, which governs public procurement, requiring that all State organs must contract for goods and services in a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive, and cost-effective,” explained Cuthbert at the time of the launch.

He further highlighted that the DA’s Bill removed provisions for set-asides, prequalification criteria, subcontracting conditions and local content designations, replacing these measures with an outcomes-driven system centred on inclusive development and value-for-money procurement.

The transitional measures in the Bill included the winding down of the BEE Commission over 12 months and the systematic removal of references to BEE across legislation.

“Unlike the ANC’s system that encourages fronting and patronage, the DA’s approach focuses on need, fairness, and tangible empowerment. It supports small businesses, removes red tape, and builds local economies where opportunity is earned, not given to the well-connected,” Cuthbert said on Tuesday.

The DA is urging support for its proposed Bill from businesses, civil society and South Africans through its online portal at EndPoverty.da.org.za

The ANC in Gauteng posted on X that the party rejects the DA’s "Anti-Transformation Bill".

It described it as seeking "to undermine the hard-won progress made in advancing Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment and redressing the injustices of apartheid. The ANC remains resolute in its commitment to economic transformation, equity, and inclusive growth".