Investment company Ditikeni has launched its Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) checklist which the company says will improve the quality and transparency of broad-based BEE ownership.
Jay Naidoo - "Graft and corruption are producing a society that is driven by consumption rather than production, yet consumption will not create jobs that are needed. Consumption just breeds greed and little else. This approach to business through politics breeds a kind of entitlement that will rip the foundations of our society apart. That is why I say the timing of the checklist is impeccable because it addresses each and everyone of those concerns"
"Many are of the view that BEE in itself is the source of all the ills that pull at our country’s economic, social and political environment. And in many respects it is. But BEE was always meant to be broad-based and not for the select few, it was always intended as a public initiative not as a means to amass private wealth, it was meant to address the exclusion of the formerly disadvantaged from the white-owned economy," Naidoo added.
Naidoo says he still believes BEE can work in South Africa but only if it is linked to the goals of a people-centred democracy.
"It can work because it can give dignity to those who until now were made to feel that they did not make the grade. It can work because it can instill a sense of pride within the communities hat were left behind by inefficient and often corrupt municipal leaders, it can work because it can generate meaningful employment for the people who have lost hope in knowing what it is like doing an honest day’s work and earn their way in life," Naidoo says.
The actual checklist seems to focus on good governance of broad-based ownership schemes - to quote the checklist
The checklist does not deal however with the extent to which the subject organisation complies with the BEE Codes of Good Practice - that remains a separate exercise. The Checklist covers what the BEE Codes do not, that is, the bona fides of those organisations which claim to be broad-based.
AND
It supplements, but does not replace, the BEE Codes of Good Practice.
Probably good for those NPOs that want to be BEE deal beneficiaries. What would you say Richard?
Oh yes - it's here. I'd never heard of Ditikeni before - nice endorsement from Jay Naidoo
Yes, I think that you are right, Paul – this is a good “add on” marketing tool for BEE Code 100 deals.
I think a potential mine field is in judging what administration costs mean firstly, and what level is considered reasonable. Tshikululu overheads are some R 34 million per annum. They will argue, I imagine, that this expertise is needed to choose the right projects and to ensure that money isn’t wasted / stolen etc, and I would personally agree with that. Expertise costs money, but the overall cost is less. But a number of people would be horrified at their salaries. I counted the number of people in their organisation photo and divided the figure into their total salary bill, and got an average salary of R 395 000 per annum, which I suspect makes them paying market related salaries
Richard
Posted by: Richard Ferrer | March 16, 2011 at 10:25 AM