The rumours circulate and the press speculates as to the EME threshold. I wrote about the Beeld and the R5million on the 15th of November. The Herald Online has also picked up on the story. The website is the virtual home of the the PE-based Herald and tends to report on regional issues. The article on the delay of the codes discusses the impact on companies in the Eastern Cape (Confusion continues over new empowerment codes). I like these kinds of articles because it does reflect issues that are prevalent to all small businesses in South Africa but that never seem to make the national business press.
The Herald's business editor, Johann Barnard lists a relevant statistic about the number of businesses that fall below the R5million mark:
According to the SA Revenue Service, it has 924 217 companies (excluding sole proprietorships) on its books. Of this number, 482 104 companies have turnover of less than R5-million a year.
He also makes the very valid point (that was stressed by Henk Koekemoer of BEEMatrix),
The problem with setting the threshold for compliance at R5-million is that this could effectively negate any of the intended advantages of broad-based black economic empowerment.
Food for thought indeed.
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