The Agriculture Department’s annual conditions for permits to import food in terms of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Marrakesh Agreement of 1994 once again set compliance with Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) according to the “Agri BEE” sector code as a condition.
The Director-General of Agriculture, Mr Mooketsa Ramasodi, published these conditions in the Government Gazette yesterday.
This is incredibly ironic, because the WTO was specifically established to mediate free trade. It replaced the former General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) precisely because GATT allowed countries to implement only certain aspects of free trade.
According to the Marrakesh Agreement, countries that sign it must accept the core agreements as a single, indivisible package.
On its website, the WTO acknowledges that the legal documents governing the organisation’s operations can be particularly complex. So, the most important requirements are provided in plain language.
The WTO’s second objective is “Non-discrimination: A country should not discriminate between its trading partners, and it should not discriminate between its own and foreign products, services or nationals.” <br/>
Although the word “should” imposes no obligation, it does point to a specific intention. South Africa, however, openly discriminates against its own citizens on the basis of race. This once again shines the spotlight on the injustice of legislation aimed at promoting BEE.
The organisation Sakeliga is currently embroiled in a court case about this very issue.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) calls on the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Willie Aucamp, to strike down the legislation in his Department that discriminates and imposes restrictions on competition, which could prove beneficial to food security.
