BEE codes become binding next year

Business Report notes the codes are a compromise between what hardline black business activists, such as Peter Vundla, the chair of the President’s Black Business Working Group, were pushing for and what white-owned and foreign businesses were happy to accept. Jerry Vilakazi, the CE of Business Unity SA, said the codes would go a long way in creating certainty regarding what was expected of the business community in implementing BEE. ‘Business needs a stable and predictable environment to thrive and grow.’ Jimmy Manyi, president of the Black Management Forum, said the organisation was encouraged that the Trade and Industry Department (DTI) had come up with a document that had managed to address a number of competing viewpoints, especially through the codes’ increased emphasis on promotion of black managers and skills development. Key compromises include the fact that, subject to certain conditions, pension funds can be scored for empowerment or left out of any calculations of equity ownership. Full report in Business Report See also a report on the FIN24 site

Multinationals will be able to claim ownership points on the empowerment scorecard based on so-called equity equivalent programmes, says a Business Day report. It says the provision in the codes, made public yesterday, is likely to put to test speculation about how the multinationals will meet their ownership targets. Keith Webb, of Bravura Economic Empowerment Consulting, said the move would allay fears for multinationals. ‘This is something that they have been pushing for and they must be relieved that they got it,’ Webb said. The DTI BEE chief director Polo Radebe, said the multinationals ‘equity equivalent’ contributions would be measured against the ownership element of the scorecard. Full Business Day report

The codes also affect black-owned businesses, according to Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa. A Moneyweb report quotes him as saying that although black companies would generally score on ownership and management, they still had to comply with the rest of the seven elements of the scorecard. Full Moneyweb report