There's no shortage of opinions, both new and old, as to the meaning of authentic transformation and how to get there. Navigating through this minefield is determined by the particularities of the compass being used.

There's no shortage of opinions, both new and old, as to the meaning of authentic transformation and how to get there. Navigating through this minefield is determined by the particularities of the compass being used.

"South Africa's economic and social stability hinges on genuine, not superficial, transformation," writes Daily Maverick's Yeshiel Panchia, whose article was high among Daily Maverick's top reads for March 2025.

Despite almost 31 post-apartheid years, Panchia continues, "legislation enacted specifically to rectify historical economic injustices" via "explicit redistribution" is still waiting for the needed "genuine transformation".

Transformation has now become the popular generic term for affirmative action, employment equity, Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and the gamut of other measures all taken in the name of redress, of levelling the pot-holed playing fields.

But the times are a'changin. Among others, Stephen Grootes, noting that the "policy of black economic empowerment has always been intensely controversial", reminds us that after about three decades, political forces from the centre as well as organised business "may be gathering enough strength to overturn it". The challenge for him is to find options other than the "unworkable" or "unfair" ones of BEE.

He concludes his impassioned article thus: "Genuine...