There was a lot of press about the new Sasol ownership deal that included white employees. One article stated that the dti "rather than praising the deal, the trade and industry department on Friday slammed Sasol’s plan to include white employees in the employee share ownership programme element of the scheme." You can read another article here.
When I read about this I thought that this behaviour was typical of all government departments, especially the dti. It does seem this time that the Business Day and a few other publications might not have been reporting the complete story. A letter from Vukani Mde (ministerial spokesperson, trade and industry department) to the Business Day yesterday put things in a better perspective (strange that I am leaning towards the dti - I normally relish in lambasting them).
This is the significant paragraph
We pointed out, however, that in terms of the process for awarding empowerment credits envisioned in the BEE codes of good practice, Sasol’s proposed employee share ownership scheme would fall short .... meaning it would not qualify as part of a BEE deal......... Sasol has since clarified that they do not intend to claim BEE credits with the scheme, and the department is confident Sasol’s BEE deal is in line with the codes.
The debate then continues as to whether companies should include white employees in their ESOPs. I think it's a good idea, especially if the scheme is used as a reward and retention scheme. The chances are highly likely that the majority of employees within most organisations will be black - so you won't be messing with too many BEE points. By limiting ownership to black employees only you could find yourself in all sorts of constitutional shit and on the wrong side of Solidarity.
That's sorted then.
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