Transformation ‘must get teeth’
The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Commission should take action against companies that are found to not be complying with the B-BBEE requirements for transformation, Rob Davies, minister of trade and industry, (dti) said yesterday.
“It was important for us to put it in the Act that the B-BBEE Commission should be able to get information that will enable the regulator to tell us what the state of transformation is in the country,” Davies said.
“So far, the commission has only received 27 reports from the Johannesburg Stock Exchangelisted companies, and that is not able to give us a holistic view of what the transformation is in South Africa.”
Davies was speaking at a breakfast session held by the B-BBEE Commission on the national state of transformation in Johannesburg.
He said the commission needed to also deal with verification agencies that were found to be promoting misrepresentation and fronting by issuing B-BBEE certificates which do not give a true reflection of the transformation status in companies.
“Our economy is still characterised by monopolies; we do not have inclusive growth. We need to industrialise and grow the economy, but ensure that we give people equal share to participate and be real players in the economy,” Davies said.
“We need to know that we can rely on the scorecards, that they are a true reflection of where we are in terms of transformation.”
Acting commissioner for the B-BBEE Commission Zodwa Ntuli said the commission took the role of the B-BBEE legislation seriously, in relation to breaking into the levels of concentration by facilitating new entrants.
She said that the Commission had already initiated investigations into cases of fronting and targeting the verification industry.
Ntuli also announced that the commission had developed a B-BBEE certification web portal, which would be linked to the database of the National Treasury.
She said the portal, which would come into effect from April 1 as an effort to reduce fraudulent B-BBEE certificates, would also allow government and state-owned enterprises to go on to the website to verify the legitimacy of B-BBEE certificates from suppliers. – ANA