Fortunately for me I came across the Star today and was greeted by a startling headline on the front page of the Business Report. "BEE needs teeth if it is going to bite, state warned". And I quote:
The government must go back to the drawing board and find ways of giving BEE significant teeth, with possible penalties if firms refuse to transform rapidly. What these penalties will be must be studied by the department of trade and industry, and a task team that includes black business to give empowerment clout.
The report was presented to Mbeki by the Presidential Black Business Working Group which includes Peter Vundla (who has been known to voice the occasional opinion on BEE, transformation and advertising) and my old mate Jimmy Manyi.
Vundla recognises that the legislation is a "framework" and that the framework is not enforceable. But he suggests (without being specific) "there should be penalties for non-compliance."
I'm not going to go into any more detail about it. But there is a very significant paragraph in the middle of the article.
Mbeki is under pressure to deliver to a restive black constituency that has not seen significant progress in BEE.
This is nothing new and it does seem as though there is a fair amount of impatience within the newer players in the business and political arena. The Springboks are just one example.
So here's what I think....................
It's early days. We've only just got a scorecard that can be used to measure stuff. Up until now it's been guess work. Give us a couple more years to get into it.
To the best of my knowledge there is no legal vehicle to enforce compliance of BEE. You can't tell a private company who their shareholders will be, who they should employ, how they should train them, who they should buy from and what causes they should support. If you do that you might as well nationalise the whole economy.
I'll be very interested to see how they are going to give the whole system the force of law.
On the subject of the force of law
A report on the progress of BEE in the public sector is to be completed by October (year not specified).
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