Yeah, I know, that was also bad. To reiterate:

It really does seem like both S ZA and Zimbabwe chose the wrong strategy to righting colonial inequalities. Something in between, like just a tax on white-owned businesses while they’re disproportionately powerful, could be good.

In Zimbabwe they forced the transfer all at once and there was no black people to take the stuff who could actually operate it, so it got sold off for parts. And then, of course, they tried to solve their economic woes by printing ever more money.

I’m guessing the middle road would be a 5% tax or something on the incomes of non-BEE businesses. That way, there would be no catastrophic transition, but with any luck BEE-compliant businesses would grow at a steady pace, and eventually I could actually walk around outside gated neighborhoods without worrying about vigilante redistribution.

I have family over there, but I’ve never been, so I guess I should end by saying this is just armchair general-ing. Obviously I don’t get a vote.