South Africa’s Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe last Thursday said that racial transformation in the auto industry was slow and ownership still lay with the country’s white minority.

Almost 16 years after apartheid and despite ambitious policies, the government has struggled to ensure South Africa’s business sector reflects the country’s black majority.

“At least one per cent of business in the metals and engineering industry is black owned,” Motlanthe said, at the opening of Volkswagen South Africa’s new parts and automotive distribution centre outside Johannesburg.

“This paints a less than rosy picture… in this industry.”

The auto industry, the biggest within the manufacturing sector, has recovered since the start of this year.

The industry has gradually be in reversing trend for more than two years of decline during which consumers grappled with high borrowing costs and an economic downturn.

Companies operating in South Africa have to meet black economic empowerment (BEE) targets on ownership, procurement and employment, to give the country’s black majority an opportunity to do business.

Firms that failed to meet BEE requirements cannot do business with the government.

Motlanhe said training programmes were failing to address the country’s need for high level skills, especially in management, citing a study conducted at      Wits University’s Corporate Strategy and Industrial Development Research Unit.

“It also found no link between training initiatives and translation of these into a change in the structure of employment equity such that training holds out the prospect of upward job mobility,” he said.

The auto industry contributes more than a quarter of South Africa’s gross domestic product.