Something needs to be done about SANAS. The Empowerdex issue has highlighted the SANAS stranglehold. SANAS is not doing the industry any favours. I think these are the problems
- They are slowing the business process down completely because of the length of time it takes to issue a BEE certificate. The processes are onerous on the verification agency and the client. In most cases these pedantic and unreasonable and certainly not championing the cause of transformation. This Catastrophes character will give a non-conformance for a thank you letter from a charity under socio-economic development because it doesn’t say black South Africans.
- Catastrophes is reportedly a major problem. He will also use BEE Commissioner opinions as binding – even though they are not supported by any piece of legislation. On top of this he uses a type of retrospective legislating where he will say to a verification agency that they awarded points to a client that may have done something 12 months prior to the opinions that he regards as binding. The Commissioner may write something in June and the client’s verification period ends three months before that, which means that they have done everything by the book that existed at the time. There is no way that they would have known at that time that this opinion was coming. Catastrophes will say that points should not be awarded. It comes down to policy uncertainty. No one knows whether their BEE processes will work or not – even though the codes may permit something.
- There is a distinct barrier to entry in this business – which would have a major impact on emerging (black) players. This barrier is financial and process orientated.
I would like to see more players, less red tape and more policy certainty.
It's time for verification people to speak out. I know they will want to be remain anonymous, so I will publish their opinions on this blog without divulging any names. SANAS needs to be brought into check – the industry is too scared to take them on, but I'm not.
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