They say that those in power eventually revert to the ways of their former opponents or oppressors. It was Pete Townsend who carved those immortal lines "meet the new boss, just like the old boss" into rock history in 1971. This is an application of "the more things change, the more they stay the same". bolshie (sad commie) bob has published a document for comment. The document has a number of lofty ideals that include To specify Standards for Accreditation for a Rating Agency and To set Standards that will govern the B-BBEE Verification Industry. It prescribes certain minimums of levels of skill and competence for practitioners - which will automatically exclude many in the industry (specifically that person who shoots his mouth off about things that he truly has no competence to speak of). That's honourable and I see where bobby brown is headed there. However he has taken a giant step backwards when it comes to who can play in the verification industry (this possibly might include consultants). A leap so far back that it spans a distance of at least 106 years.
Our learned red man has proposed the following (page 15)
The rating agency in terms of this Statement must meet the following criteria:
8.7.1 To comply with the relevant Verification Methodologies as amended
8.7.2 To be verified as a Superior Contributor to B -BBEE Level One 1 to Three 3 Contributor with at least 51 % Black Ownership utilizing the Flow Through Principle as per the Amended Codes of Good Practice within 12 Months of the final publication of Statement 005.
8.7.4 The B-BBEE Verification Professional Regulator will assess and analyse the B -BBEE Verification Certificate and Report of the Rating agency inclusive of all supporting documentation and evidence.
8.7.5 A Rating Agency needs to be verified against all 5 elements of the scorecard regardless of their size (EME, QSE or Generic - and start-ups)
And if you don't meet 8.7.2
8.7.3 If the above is not adhered to Accreditation is automatically lost.
What the minister is proposing is that certain jobs that operate in the private sector are reserved for a certain class of company. In other words if you aren't 51% black owned as a minimum then you need not apply. Simply put this is apartheid endorsed job reservation (here is an old Black Sash document on job reservation written in 1963) and it starts with a small industry like BEE verification and then extends to other industries. What's stopping them from telling IRBA that all auditing firms may only be registered with them if they are 51% black owned. Can they prevent other professions from belonging to critical societies or organisations because they don't meet an apartheid style criterion? Will they start allocating licences to operate based on racial grounds? They can and they will.
We've tried to stop this flagrant disregard for the constitution and the rule of law before, to no avail. The mining industry stood up to zwane because he threatened the security of the industry. And they will continue to do so. davies is not in the same league of denseness as zwane but his systematic destruction of the economy through his badly thought out policies has gone unchecked, and for far too long.
You've got less than 60 days to submit your comments. It's your livelihoods that are at stake here - do something about it.
Interested parties are requested to forward their comments in writing for the attention of the B-BBEE Unit to either of the following addresses:
1. Email - [email protected]
2. the dti Campus
77 Meint ies street, Sunnyside Pretoria, 0002
c/o BEE Unit
3. Private. Bag X 84, Pretoria, 0002
Enquiries: 012 394 3518.
What was that Pete?
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