Comparative analysis of discriminatory laws: Nazi Germany (1933–1945) and SA's BEE legislation (2003–present)
Key topics:
Nazi laws used race to exclude Jews and seize their wealth.
BEE laws in South Africa promote Black control, exclude whites.
Both systems used legal tools to enforce racial hierarchies.
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By Geoffrey Forrester
Introduction
Throughout history, various regimes have employed legislation as a means to institutionalize discrimination. While Nazi Germany's antisemitic laws aimed at marginalizing, disenfranchising, and exterminating Jewish populations,
The Nazi Party used populist antisemitic views to gain votes.
Using the; "stab-in-the-back legend", poverty, the hyperinflation and unemployment in the Weimar Republic, the loss of World War I and surrender by the "November Criminals" all on the Jews and "cultural Bolsheviks", the latter considered to be in a conspiracy with the Jews.
The ANC and their derivatives (MK Party and EFF Party) have all used popular racist and anti-apartheid views to gain votes. Blaming everything from economic collapse to unemployment on “white people” for instituting apartheid laws.
South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws seek to redress historical inequalities faced by Black citizens during apartheid. Although these policies originated in vastly different contexts and intentions, they share certain structural and conceptual similarities rooted in their approach to social hierarchy, exclusion, and economic redistribution.
Nazi Germany's Antisemitic Legislation and the Aryan Paragraph
Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany implemented a series of laws designed to racialize German society and marginalize Jews:
The Aryan Paragraph: Established in 1933, this law aimed to exclude Jews from civil service and, eventually, from various professional and public positions. It mandated the removal of Jews from the civil service, military, and the judiciary based on racial criteria, privileging those considered "Aryan."
Nuremberg Laws (1935): Codified racial discrimination, stripping Jews of German citizenship, prohibiting intermarriage with "Aryans," and establishing a racial hierarchy.
Legislative Strategy: These laws institutionalized racial discrimination through legal codes, excluded Jews from economic and social participation, including education, they were not allowed to attend universities and government schools, The legislation fuelled propaganda to legitimize racial superiority and discrimination.
Why did Germany start to implement these laws and initiate the propaganda program.
Disproportionate Wealth: Jewish Germans were heavily involved in business, banking, and commerce. Some estimates suggest they controlled a significant share of business capital and economic influence relative to their population size.
Range of Estimates: Exact numbers vary across sources, but some scholars estimate Jews might have held around 15% to 30% of private wealth in Germany during the 1930s.
Impact of Nazi Policies: Following the rise of Nazi power and the enactment of antisemitic laws, much Jewish-owned wealth was expropriated, confiscated, or forcibly transferred.
In the early 1930s Germany was in a severe economic hardship, particularly The Great Depression, which had led to high unemployment, economic instability, and social unrest. By this time, under Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime, several key economic measures were underway to stabilize and revitalize the economy.
In 1933 unemployment was at its worse so the government needed to blame somebody, Jews were the minority in Germany at Less than 1% and held 15% to 30% of the nation’s wealth, to pursue the government’s socialist objectives, this made sense. During the Nazi regime, much of the expropriated Jewish wealth in Germany from 1933 onward was transferred to various entities and individuals aligned with or benefiting from Nazi policies. The key beneficiaries included:
The Nazi State and Its Agencies:
The government systematically confiscated Jewish property, businesses, and assets through laws such as the Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums (Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.) and other decrees. The proceeds often went directly to state coffers to fund rearmament, infrastructure projects, and anti-Semitic propaganda initiatives.Party Officials and SS Members:
Members of the Nazi Party, SS, and other officials often directly acquired confiscated Jewish assets, sometimes through grants, contracts, or opportunistic purchase at heavily devalued prices. This helped build personal wealth among the regime’s elite.Aryanization of Jewish Businesses:
Jewish-owned businesses were forcibly sold or transferred—often at nominal prices—to "Aryans" (non-Jewish Germans loyal to the regime). These new owners, many affiliates of the Nazi establishment, benefited economically from these transfers.Industrialists and Business Magnates:
Some wealthy industrialists, who supported the Nazi regime, acquired Jewish assets or benefited indirectly through government contracts, securities, or investments made possible by the regime’s policies.General Society and Economy (in a broader sense):
While not direct beneficiaries in a moral or legal sense, the redistribution of Jewish wealth supported the Nazi economic policies, which aimed to consolidate economic control within a totalitarian framework.
Summary:
The primary beneficiaries of expropriated Jewish wealth in Nazi Germany were the Nazi state itself, its officials, and those privileged or aligned with the regime who acquired Jewish assets—mostly at reduced value or through forced sales. This redistribution facilitated economic gains for certain individuals and organizations within the Nazi power structure.
Core Features:
- Racial classification as a basis for legal rights and privileges.
- Segregation and exclusion of targeted groups.
- Use of law to institutionalize racial hierarchy.
South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Laws
Enacted post-apartheid (from 2003 onwards), BEE laws aim to address the economic injustices of apartheid by promoting Black participation in the economy:
- Legislation and Policies: BEE involves measures such as preferential procurement, ownership requirements, and leadership quotas aimed at increasing Black ownership and management in business. Put differently it excludes white people from sectors of the economy, and working in positions controlled by the state.
- Goals: Redress historical economic disparities, promote transformation, and empower historically marginalized Black populations. Reality is it has promoted the economic wealth of the political elite, in the past 30 years of ANC rule, BEE laws have resulted in the expropriation of wealth to a minority. Recent studies showed that R1,000,000,000,000 has been “redistributed since its implementation, and more than 90% is to less than 100 Politically connected black people and their families. (as per William Gumede Wits School of Governance)
(to understand how much this is, if I counted that in R100 notes, at a speed of 1 note a second, it would take me 3’170 years to count)
- Implementation: Includes Codes of Good Practice, charters, and Black ownership mandates, incentivizing businesses to meet affirmative action targets.
Schools and universities are given directives to limit the numbers of white children allowed to enter. Further the entry requirement for black children and white children is radically different.
Core Features:
- Affirmative action aimed at economic redress.
- Preferential treatment for Black-owned enterprises. Black-owned enterprises are given a 25% preferential margin for winning any procurement. This means if a white owned business tries to supply a state institution e.g. ports authority, with any products, the Ports authority has to use the Black owned business if it is less then 125% of the white business price, and only then may Ports Authority consider the white companies proposition, but even then it is still encouraged to use the Black one. The consequences of this are exactly what you would expect. Complete failure.
- Legal frameworks to promote inclusion and economic participation.
1. **Legislation as a Tool for Social Engineering**
Both sets of laws employ legislation explicitly to shape social dynamics:
- Nazi laws used racial categories to define, exclude, and marginalize Jews.
We could say this as: “the legislation was to use economic criteria to promote the Aryan Race and redress disparities.”
- BEE laws use economic criteria to promote Black participation and redress disparities, i.e. promote racial categories and exclude and marginalize white people.
2. Use of Law to Institutionalize Hierarchy
- Nazi laws created a racial hierarchy privileging "Aryans" while dehumanizing Jews.
- BEE policies establish a hierarchy favouring historically marginalized groups, aiming to elevate Black citizens.
Cadre deployment as a policy and the history of state capture in South Africa has established the ANC’s Political connected as the tip of the hierarchy, not black people.
This has happened to such an extent that there is nothing left to plunder, so the ruling party ANC continue using the apartheid government that hasn’t existed for over 30 years to justify the continued looting. Laying the blame on the white people in the country and abroad. (colonisers)
3. Targeted Groups and Exclusion
- Nazi laws targeted Jews for exclusion from social, economic, and political life. If we replace the word black with Aryan, we could say the Nazi laws target economic participation, favouring Aryan businesses and individuals who historically faced barriers
- BEE laws target economic participation, favouring Black businesses and individuals who historically faced systemic barriers 30 years ago. But are still excluding white people from economic and social elements.
4. Goals of Legislation
- Nazi laws aimed at racial supremacy and, ultimately, genocide.
- BEE laws aim at economic redress and social justice, seeking to correct historical inequalities. All the black political parties rally and promote rhetorics that call for genocide, and many openly promote the concept of driving white people back into the sea. In 2013 Jacob Zuma president of the country and leader of the ruling party the ANC, openly sang songs about shooting white people in front of hundreds of thousands of supporters. His singing mad infamous by President Donald Trump by being played in the White house, John Steenhuisen (Cyril Ramaphosa’s minister of agriculture) told the world it was the voice of a minority party, a blatant lie! He was the head of the ANC and president of the country with Cyril as his deputy at the time.)
All party members have the same rhetoric of white people do not belong in the country and should leave.
Has mass extermination of white people started yet, no. But remember this only started happening in Germany from 1941 onwards.
The purpose of the ANC’s cadre policy and deployment strategy, adopted after South Africa attained democracy in 1994, is to have loyal party hands in strategic positions at various levels of government. Although cadre deployment has been criticised in the past few years, it is worth understanding its rationale and the value it has had in light of the country’s apartheid history — but also how it has contributed to institutional damage in government. (Mail&Guardian opinion 8 May 2024 by Karabo Mokgonyana)
5. Controversies and Criticisms
- Nazi legislation led to atrocities and genocide.
- BEE policies are being escalated, and racial rhetoric is becoming increasingly divisive and aggressive, and is likely to end in the same way. The signs are already showing.
In 1935 the Jewish population of Germany was estimated at 500’000 by 1941 that number was less the 200’000.
South Africans white population has gone from 20% in 1994 to less than 7.5% of the population. Of these left in the country less than 10% would have been old enough to have voted for or against an apartheid government and of these 10% I believe it fair to say that 90% of them have retired and aren’t even in the economic system.
More than half the white South Africans in the country weren’t even born in the apartheid error.
Racial discrimination is unconstitutional in South Africa and should not be in any laws or political rhetoric.
Unfortunately, the south African political parties have all copied the NAZI leaders by using the minority group as the target and reason for the demise of the majority as an easy way to win votes from the majority. Who could blame them as the truth would be economic suicide for the ruling party.
On a personal level
I run my own company, and every Rand I earn as profit is taxed 47% straight up (dividends tax is 20% company tax is 27%), and then 15% on everything I spend my portion of the earnings on. I must pay huge portions of my income on “levies” to the government just to keep the company licensed. So with over 68% of every rand generated paid to the government, (No, I am not including my staff’s income tax payments as this is their money being paid to the government)
Now on top of this, I am still expected to Share my company with an “African”
Considering the Government is already a 65+ % stack holder in every company making a profit, how can BEE be seen as anything other than institutionalised racial discrimination, that will end the same way as the Aryan Paragraph.
As a fair skinned green eyed blond haired patriotic individual in South Africa, I am constantly debating with myself am I going to be like one of the 200’000 thousand Jews who would constantly tell themselves things will get better, the world will not allow this…. Or do I join those who have already left?
So, I must invest my wealth (earned and saved not inherited) into a company to share in its profits at less then 35% and then if it succeeds and grows to a value above small, I must share it with somebody the ANC thinks is “Black” enough.
Just to rub salt in the wounds, my taxes don’t give me safety (I must pay private security) I don’t have access to state medical facilities (I have to pay medical insurance to enjoy private medical which is run worse than most other countries state facilities as they have to employ people based on race and not ability) Education is so poor I have had to educate my children privately in the hope that they will be able to leave and start a new life in a country that values them as first class citizens.