Tag: B-BBEE scorecard

Many South African businesses have been struggling since the initial COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. While the economy has seen slight improvements from last year, conditions remain uncertain and unstable. Many businesses are struggling to balance the need to stay afloat with the desire not to retrench any further staff.

With South Africa’s BPO industry voted the most favoured offshore CX delivery location in 2021 in the annual Ryan Strategic Advisory BPO Omnibus Survey, the burgeoning sector is well positioned to play a critical role in ‘Impact Sourcing’. 

Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) is a prerequisite for doing business in South Africa, and training forms a significant portion of the B-BBEE scorecard. However, training is also critical to help address the skills shortage in the country that is only growing as we move into the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR).

South Africa is limp wristed from unclear definitions and objectives that are used at different moments to drive ambiguous agendas. South Africa lacks a clear definition for transformation, and thus every other organ of change abdicates their role in shaping the country in a progressive direction.

Employment Equity (EE) report submissions are now open and will run from 01 September 2019 to 15 January 2020. Failure to comply will see fines ranging from 2 – 10% of a company’s turnover. This mandatory submission is relevant to all companies with a headcount of 50 employees or more and to those with an annual turnover above the required threshold (varies per industry).

The Department of Trade and Industry’s amendments to the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice on Friday, 31 May, were published in the government gazette with very little fanfare considering the significant impact they may have on generic entities in the country. These changes to the codes and will affect businesses in terms of procurement, enterprise and supplier development as well as skills development.

The BEE scorecard encourages businesses to push for economic growth, specifically focusing on people of colour in South Africa. It is based on the concept of offering incentives through additional business. Economic growth begins with skills development involving training and hands on development through employment equity and the development of new business.

Criticism of Broad Based, Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) abounds amongst employers. People who own their companies and are terrified that BBBEE means losing control of their most prized asset, the business built over decades through hard work and sacrifice. These scared and witless business owners perpetuate the myth that BBBEE is bad. They spread it around so that they are able to share their misery with other unsuspecting ill-informed and dangerously wrong counterparts.

Skills development is a priority element of the B-BBEE scorecard and it is one of the easiest priority elements to comply with, if you know how...

In what can be seen as a victory for the Chamber of Mines, the High Court ruled this week that South African mining companies aren't required to top up black ownership levels if they have previously met the minimum requirements. The court case concerned the interpretation of the so-called 'once empowered always empowered' principle contained in the Original Mining Charter (2002) and the 2010 Mining Charter.