Speaking of the devil. My post over the weekend asked whether the DA would tolerate these codes. Apparently they won't. Wilmot James published a release on Politicsweb yesterday. In the release he pretty much echoes what most businesses are asking.
DTI clearly has not applied its minds to comments received on the draft Codes published in October 2012.
During the proposed meeting the DA will ask that the Minister provide details on the comments received by DTI on the 2012 draft Codes, how they were considered and whether DTI consulted any third parties in drafting the latest version of the Codes.
We will also request a full regulatory impact assessment on the implementation of these Codes.
Business and civil society raised serious principled and technical concerns around the 2012 draft Codes. It is clear that these concerns were not seriously considered by DTI.
This is a severe and worrying example of a misuse of basic legislation which gives extensive powers to the Minister to push through regulations without appropriate consultation.
Then he lists a few concerns (which seem so logical to me)
There is a very real risk that the cost of compliance with the Codes published will have a number of unintended consequences, including:
- Businesses may choose to withdraw from the empowerment process entirely;or
- Disinvestment in the South African economy, resulting in thousands of job losses.
And then concludes with
The Codes, in their current form, will not result in the building of an inclusive economy.
We will do everything in our power to get the Minister to amend them.
All the comments I read regarding these codes were largely in disagreement with them. Why would business agree to something that is patently counter-productive.
There is another consideration that has not been taken into account - there are a number of concerned people who would like to see BEE legislation decared unconstitutional. When you have a document that is so patently unfair, unreasonable and are not a reflection of the will of the people who have to implement them then you have a very clear constitutional challenge ahead of you. As EfVee once said
But Mr de Klerk said that the constitution did not allow unfair discrimination and if affirmative action and BEE were implemented in a way that constituted unfair discrimination, then it was wrong and unconstitutional.
These codes are wrong.
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