Piecing NEEF together

Slowly the pieces of the NEEEF puzzle are coming together. There is still no sight of the official document but this will come in time. The pieces come from various articles from Namibian publications. What is very apparent though is that it is more than a little similar to our own broad based BEE, a key difference being that it is destined to end on 2036 (which makes it a 25 year project). Similarities include:

NEEEF will be based on voluntary business practice" and 'Government will use all legitimate market mechanism at its disposal, in the form of procurement programmes and licensing regimes, to promote transformation and empowerment'. In other words, the whole empowerment framework boils down to the awarding of Government tenders and is otherwise left to voluntary changes.

The quote above was taken from a very informative article in the Villager written by Herbert Jauch, who seems to be a Namibian unionist of sorts. Jauch provides a short summary of the scorecard

Companies tendering for contracts from Government or state-owned enterprises (parastatals) will be rated by a newly-created NEEEF Commission according to five "empowerment pillars". These are made up of the following:

1. Business ownership with a minimum requirement of 25% ownership by 'previously disadvantaged Namibians'.
2. Management control and employment equity with a minimum of 50% of board and management consisting of such Namibians.
3. Expenditure on training and skills development with a minimum of 1,5% of gross wages to be spent.
4. Entrepreneurship development with procurement spending on goods and services to be provided by historically disadvantaged Namibians.
5. Community investments with a minimum of 1% of after tax profits to be spent on community development projects.

Not that different to BEE. Most of the reports that I have read about this tend to focus on these issues above – it suggests to me that only a summary has been submitted and the detail is to follow.

Comments

[הדברות]

The meeting will be based on non reflex business practice and government will use all genuine market process at its fingertips, by means of purchase programs and accreditation routines, to advertise modification and empowerment.

[מוצרי הדברה]

The organization will be based on non-reflex business practice and government will use all genuine market process at its convenience, by using purchase programs and certification routines.