2000s – remains one of the major criticisms levied against the policy. At the advent of the policy, and especially during the Mbeki presidency, the ANC was explicitly committed to promoting the development of a "patriotic black bourgeoisie" whose rise could initiate broader transformation in the economy. The 50th National Conference of the ANC in 1997 agreed that:Though such instances may be an exception to the norm, experience in other countries has taught us that, without vigilance, elements of these new capitalist classes can become witting or unwitting tools of monopoly interests, or parasites who thrive on corruption in public office. However, in the overall, the rising black bourgeoisie and middle strata are objectively important motive forces of transformation whose interests coincide with at least the immediate interests of the majority. They are, in this sense and in this phase, part of the motive forces of fundamental change.However, critics contend that, over two decades later, the beneficiaries of BEE, and of most BEE transactions, still comprise only a very small elite of South African society, with the vast majority of black South Africans receiving few benefits from the policy, and indeed with little progress in reducing overall poverty and inequality levels in South Africa in general. Archbishop Desmond Tutu expressed this view, asking, "What is black empowerment when it seems to benefit not the vast majority but an elite that tends to be recycled?" He also warned that, combined with widespread "dehumanising poverty," the system could build popular resentment against the ruling classes and between different sections of society. Pieter Groenewald, leader of opposition party the Freedom Front Plus, has called BEE an acronym for "black elite enrichment"; and John Steenhuisen, the leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, has argued that BEE encourages the development of oligarchy at the expense of economic equality. A common accusation is that, despite the shift to BBBEE, BEE remains primarily geared towards ownership transactions, increasing black shareholding and directorships – and the wealth of their holders – without necessarily increasing the substantive control of black South Africans over the economy. The notion of a BEE elite adds to this the further accusation that BEE ownership transactions themselves disproportionately involve one small group of black businessmen, with insufficient opportunities afforded to the black population at large. Anthea Jeffrey of the Institute of Race Relations has claimed that the group of beneficiaries amounts to about 15%