Paul Janisch

Rob Davies - making amends, coda to the play in one act

Whilst the play is in play the ushers hand out these two documents which will have to substitute for a programme.  The ushers inform the audience that they have 60 days to comment on the two documents.  hlaudi looks at the documents and sees there is writing on them, being neither literate nor compus he discards them.

The scene - a room in a prime office in Meintjies Street Pretoria. A nondescript bearded man in a drab SACP fleece reaches for the telephone.  He dials his secretary.

Secretary - Minister Davies?  

bolshie bob - who's Minister Davies?  My name is bolshie ................ wait a second, my real name is Davies and I am the most destructive minister in Ramaphosa's cabinet.  Yes, I am Minister Davies.  (Pause).  Please get me the BEE Commissioner.

Secretary - I'll see if the awesome awdoz is in her office.

A few seconds later the mighty commissioner comes on the line.

awesome awdoz - good morning bolsh..... I mean minister.

bolshie bob - commissioner I see that we really have set the cat amongst the pigeons with our last amendments.  We cannot stop now - these idiots (and that fucking blogger) are reading this drivel we put out.

awesome awdoz - the trick minister, is to put in subtle little things that they will never pick up on.  I have a few ideas.

bolshie bob - I'm all ears and within the next thirty years I'll have a great beard like Karl Marx

awesome awdoz - we are in the process of removing the modified flow through from black ownership and that illusive level 2 that those evil Afrikaner accountants from Edenvale have found as a loophole.  Well we need to ensure that enterprise and supplier development beneficiaries must be 51% black owned using the modified flow through principle.

bolshie bob - on that point awdoz, sorry commissioner, these white companies that have to implement broad-based black economic empowerment are using the same entities as both enterprise and supplier development beneficiaries.  We need to separate the two - one is on the suppliers' database and the other is not.  

awesome awdoz - I'll make a note of that minister......... that is your title isn't it?  Another thing that's been troubling the black owned companies who turnover more than R50m is this business about splitting procurement into EMEs and QSEs.  I think we might have received a few complaints from white companies about this - but they are just being racist.  Let's just combine the two into one section - reduce the points from seven down to five and give the extra two points to 51% black owned suppliers.

bolshie bob - up the black owned targets as well.  And can we have some clarity on whether black women owned is more than 30% or equal to 30%.  Let's just make it a straight 30% - it'll be our concession to these moaning liberals.

awesome awdoz - there needs to be a simplification of procurement.  I'm not sure whether the president will be happy with us excluding black owned businesses turning over more than R50m from BEE.  These poor struggling megaconglomerates are going to have to implement the scorecard, we have to do a few things to help them................

bolshie bob - (interrupting) get rid of the new supplier requirement and make the 51% black owned multiplier 2 from 1.2, and throw in an incentive for 51% black women owned companies as well.  And for Trotsky's sake make sure that we emphasise the flow through principle.

awesome awdoz - what do we do with those 51% black owned megaconglomerates that might not be instantly promoted?  They are pissed off that they get nothing out of our system?  Could we not make them ED and SD beneficiaries?  I know a bloke called Nemo who would like some free money to buy the new Rolls Royce SUV, he is absolutely convinced that this will make his business more sustainable. 

bolshie bob - just make sure that these extremely profitable companies actually spend money on ED and SD. Put in that industry average thing that Stats SA is supposed to release every quarter...........

A heckler from the audience shouts "they never fucking do you useless commie wannabe, maybe you should actually do a little research before you shoot your mouth off."

bolshie b0b - do it.  And this absorption thing under skills.  They're taking the piss.  Absorption means a long term contract which is the same thing as permanent employment.  Just make the definition of long term contract, working until they retire.  These companies are just putting people on learnerships forever - and you know why awdoz? (He doesn't wait to correct himself) It's because they can carry on claiming their salaries for skills development spend.  They could be using this money for bursaries. This economy is buoyant and just making the masses poorer - there's plenty of money for this external spend.  Stalin knows that we could do with another 100 thousand graduates with a BA in History and Law, easiest people in the world to employ.

awesome awdoz (giggling) - minister bob, you know I said we should put in something subtle that they wouldn't pick up on.  Well I think we should leave the net value formula definition in the definitions as it is.

bolshie bob - yes.  The one that refers to the net value formula being found in annexe 100 C?

awesome awdoz - Indeed, 100 C - the annexe that discusses rules for employee share ownership scheme.

bolshie bob - it'll be our little joke then.

The curtain closes with the players unaware that they in fact are the joke.

 

 

New BEE checklist launched by Jay Naidoo

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.

via www.businessday.co.za

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

 

It was the title that put me off

It's a very sensational heading but Zungu does make a little bit of sense. 

Sandile Zungu, Executive Chairman of Zungu Investments Company and member of President Zuma's newly established BBBEE Council, says that SA's corporates are unpatriotic because they are not prepared to implement BEE in a meaningful way. This, he cautions, will have dire consequences for the country in the longer term.

I don't know why he chooses to use such a strong and unwarranted word. Agreed if BEE is not properly implemented then we'll have a problem - but why the hell can't people like Zungu stop criticising what's not being done and talk about what is being done. 

I'll tell you why he does this - it's because the overwhelming message from our esteemed government is one of criticism.  He's just following the trend.  Take a look at this

The government certainly seemed suitably welcoming last week when Volkswagen SA opened a new distribution centre in Centurion and announced that it would make further investments in its Uitenhage plant (R500m).

Not only will the plant be making many more VW Polos for export, it will also create a few thousand more jobs. And with VWSA planning to increase the local content of its Polos from 40% to 70%, there should be some new jobs, too, at the component manufacturers and other local suppliers.

The trade and industry minister was there last week to welcome it all. So too was Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe .

But the disturbing thing last week about Motlanthe, in particular, was that he gave VW such a qualified welcome. He wasted no time laying into the company, and its industry, for failing to do their bit for black economic empowerment. After a cursory remark or two about how nice VWSA’s investment was, and how wonderful was SA’s new (but as yet unimplemented) industrial policy action plan, the deputy president moved straight along to the findings of a Wits University study of the metals, engineering and automotive industries. The study, he said, showed a “less than rosy picture” of broad-based empowerment in these industries. Only 1% of the businesses were black-owned. The race and gender mix wasn’t right at all. Skills training was no good either.

The Business Day then poses the very relevant question

You have to ask, does the government want jobs or doesn’t it? Does it care whether private companies invest? Does it understand the risks companies take to invest?

And comes to the conclusion that

When governments invest, they do so with other people’s money: for companies it’s different, but it’s not clear how well politicians appreciate that.

Hence Zungu using the word unpatriotic.  In fact Mr Zungu suggests that the government is the dog's bollocks

"It is in the long-term interests of business and the country that we should embrace socio-economic transformation that has been promoted by a caring South African government," he said

Yeah right Sandile, this is the same "caring" government that passes an act that is binding on itself and yet does not actually come up with a vehicle that it is able to implement.

And as a passing observation - this is taken from the big fours' annual reports.  The figures are in millions.  In other words the banking sector invested about 867.9million rand in enterprise development.  You can't tell me that is unpatriotic Sandile.

Institution	NPAT 2009	SED spend	ED spend
ABSA	7,502	75.02	225.06
First Rand	7,838	78.38	235.14
Nedbank	5,412	54.12	162.36
Standard Bank	8,180	81.80	245.4
TOTAL	28,932	289.32	867.96

PPPs and BEE

Public Private Partnerships are without doubt the most effective tool that the government has to achieve its Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), RDP and other empowerment related goals. Yet this method of procurement is not making the most of these opportunities. The problem seems to be that the transaction advisors that are used in the early stages of the feasibility study are not suitably aware of empowerment requirements and structures that PPPs would like to achieve in the long term. The majority of these bid documents contain antiquated empowerment requirements that might deliver a narrow type of empowerment structure that ultimately benefits very few people.

The empowerment criteria for PPPs are contained in Module 2 of the National Treasury PPP Practice Note of 2004. The practice note precedes the Department of Trade and Industry's broad-based BEE codes of good practice (COGP) by about three years but a careful reading of both the COGP and the practice note reveals that they are remarkably similar and that a standard COGP implementation will more than likely cover almost every requirement that Module 2 has laid out. Interestingly the Municipal Service Delivery and PPP Guidelines have deviated from Treasury's module 2 and incorporated the DTI's codes of good practice into its requirements – suggested perhaps that the Treasury module will follow suit in the future.

The stated empowerment objectives of PPPs include

•    Increasing levels of black ownership and management

•    Development of local skills

•    Development of supporting entrepreneurship

•    Creation of local jobs (directly and indirectly)

It is the last three objectives that tend to be ignored in most PPPs. The management and ownership requirements are pushed to the fore and more often than not benefit people who may not reside or have any roots in the area that the PPP has targeted. It may appear that empowerment has been achieved but without the required emphasis on local economic development, the local population might come out of this process completely neglected. Perhaps the best way to explain this process is to use an example of a PPP that we worked in a remote area of the Eastern Cape.

The specific project is located in an region that was a labour sourcing area during apartheid. It is still suffering from the chronic ravages of this policy and as a result has virtually no infrastructure with an economically active population that is mostly female with a high HIV infection rate. It stands to reason that any investment in this area must have some positive impact on the local community. Our job was to ensure that the empowerment requirements would continuously develop that local community.

Using both module 2 and the DTI's codes as a starting point we recognised that the construction phase was unlikely to employ any of the local population on a permanent basis so budgets that would typically be allocated under a standard BEE scorecard were re-allocated to other areas of the scorecard that would see a greater investment in the local community. We specified that the local community (i.e. people living within a 50km radius of the target area) was to be used because the DTI's BEE scorecard only speaks of black people – not local people. This means that without specifying local investment it is conceivable that a company operating in this area could be fully compliant by investing in any other area. The facilities' management scorecard built on the BEE foundations laid by the construction phase and increased the number of local people employed on a permanent basis over a ten year period. The modifications to the scorecards were within the ambit of module 2.

The single most important feature of a PPP is that the Treasury Manual insists that all empowerment requirements are made contractually binding on the winning consortium, with penalties for non-compliance. Of course this requires both the government and the private party to measure their BEE performance. If the prescribed scorecard deviates so far from a standard scorecard then there is no conventional method of measurement. Verification agencies have been mandated to measure empowerment based on either the DTI's scorecard or a sectoral charter and do not have the legal capacity to measure any other type of scorecard that deviates from these norms. This means that an additional third party has to be contracted to measure and report on this.

Public Private Partnerships are still relatively new to South Africa and their efficacy is not yet fully tested. But there is little doubt that they have incredible potential to deliver on government's empowerment measures. It is very important that these measures are carefully thought out at the early stages of any PPP because it may be very difficult to change them ten years down the line when it is realised that they are not achieving what all stakeholders hoped they would. Proper advice at the outset mitigates this risk.

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Paul Janisch is the CEO of Caird Consulting – a broad-based BEE compliance consultancy. Caird has advised both the private and public sectors on PPP empowerment requirements. Janisch can be contacted on 083 227 1375 or email

Apartheid's legacy

BEE is to right the wrongs of the past, it's the right thing to do, wealth needs to be redistributed from the 5% who have etc.  We've all heard these justifications from numerous commentators and agitators.

I have a different perspective. I don't view BEE as being so much about righting the wrongs of the past, I see it as investing in the future of South Africa.  The righting the wrongs argument inevitably leads to people justifying their behaviour with "they did it to us, now it's their turn".   There are two examples of apartheid's legacy that have become very relevant to me

• The matric results

The Sunday Independent carried an article on Verwoerd's Bantu education policy and its legacy.  The author, Graeme Bloch, argues that Verwoerd's policy of not teaching black people maths if they were never going to use it is still being felt today.  This policy when coupled with job reservation effectively only allowed the black middle class to become nurses and teachers (I am summarising this article that IOL has deemed premier so I can't post a hyperlink on this post).  The result is that teachers were ill-equipped to teach maths and this problem continues.  Bloch suggests that it will take another generation to fix.

• Bantustan policy

Last year I worked on a proposed PPP in Mt Ayliffe.  Mt Ayliffe is a desolate and forgotten place in the Eastern Cape.  It falls under the Alfred Nzo municipality which is one of the ISDP nodes (in other words - where the poorest of the poor live).  My job was to conduct a socio-economic study and determine the best BEE scorecard for the PPP.  The study was showed an area that has yet to recover from the Bantustan policy.  Mt Ayliffe was a labour resourcing area for South Africa, men were migrant labourers and the women and children stayed behind and fended for themselves.  Nothing has changed.  The economically active population is still made up of women who live under the most challenging conditions.  Education is a luxury that that few can afford because the HIV-infection rate (about 30%) has forced younger people to stay home and support the family.  There is little formal employment and almost no basic infrastructure.  We concluded that whilst this PPP would have a positive effect on the community it was nowhere near enough.

The upshot in both of these circumstances is that both the matric failures and those who live in areas like Mt Ayliffe are left with few choices and prospects.  They could become dependents of the state or resort to crime - either way it places a greater burden on the tax payer.  And this South Africa can ill afford.

No one likes to be told to do something because it's the right thing to do.  People like to know what they will get in the short term.  The BEE message is not about that - the question is that can we as South African's afford not to do it.  I am hoping that when the BEE advisory council meets they look at things like SED, enterprise development and smarter ways to create sustainable economic activity in those decimated rural areas.

I have posted an old document on the ISRDP and URP nodes - they featured in an earlier version of the codes.  They were removed in the final version.

FNB rethinks 'racial' bursaries - hmmmm

Solidarity took FNB to task about their allocation of education bursaries for employees' children. The November issue of Treetalk (FNB's newsletter) offer financial support to children of African, Indian, Coloured and Chinese employees earning less than R100,000 a year.   This is a very well reported story indeed. 

I'm not in the way of getting involved in politics and I am no fan of trade unions so I'm not going to discuss the merits of Solidarity's complaint.  The thing that I picked up on was the comment on meeting with FNB CEO Michael Jordaan and Solidarity's  Dirk Hermann

The union said yesterday that during talks between Dirk Hermann, deputy general secretary of Solidarity, and FNB CEO Michael Jordaan, it had been agreed that the bank would include whites in allocating bursaries if the law allowed for such a step.

Apparently FNB had been advised by lawyers

According to legal advice obtained by FNB at the time regarding the transaction, those who benefit from black empowerment must exclusively be black.

LEGAL ADVICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You paid for legal advice of this quality?  I think you were ripped off Michael.  The correct advice goes along these lines. 

Paragraph 3.2 of code 700 (DTI) clarifies what socio-economic development contributions are.   It is 3.2.2 that is most important here:

 The full value of SED contributions made to beneficiaries is recognisable if at least 75% of the value directly benefits black people.

Even the FSC implicitly concurs with this paragraph

13.2    CSI means projects aimed primarily at black groups, communities and individuals that have a strong developmental approach and contribute towards transformation.

You don't have to consult your dubious lawyers Michael - you can happily go ahead and include white people in this scheme and still earn your BEE points.  Any B-grade BEE consultant or verification agency could have told you this.

I know there are those (like my odd cousin and friend Joe) who feel that this is perfectly fair, after all whites did it to black people during Apartheid.  I don't agree, we as South Africans have a responsibility to invest in the future of all South Africans.  This country is still suffering under that policy with low education and literacy levels.  And this will always be a burdon on the country and tax payer.

Michael - you charge me R0.50 (fifty cents) for every email I send to people when I pay them from my FNB bank account.  I don't mind if you continue ripping me off with these excessive charges if you have an equitable CSI policy. 

 

Comment from Kevin Lester on Advisory Council

Kevin commented on my Zuma appoints members of BBBEE Advisory Council post. It's too good to leave buried away under comments so I've reblogged it.

I am thrilled by the composition of the Advisory Council - not one BEE consultant, not one verification agent and not one member of the team that drafted the Codes - finally an opportunity for an un-conflicted regulator. Chantyl Mulder was a member of the committee that drafted the Accounting Professions Charter, but she is an extremely level headed and capable person who is unlikely to be conflicted, even if that charter becomes a Sector Code.

Eltie Links, Wendy Lucas-Bull, Jerry Vilakazi, Sandile Zungu, Don Mkhwanazi and Claudia Manning all have extensive business experience. Big business in South Africa could not hope for a better "representative" than Lucas Bull who ran FNB before going out and co-building a not unimpressive BEE Investment house (Peotona that now holds some pretty impressive shareholdings, including a stake in De Beers)

But, all things being equal, a DTI that serves, an ABVA and NABC that is being watched, and my old friend Sandile Zungu up there, I have no complaints at all. Indeed, safe hands are finally completely on the wheel – I must say, with a team like this, I doubt very much that the (real or imagined) influence peddlers are going to be happy with this outcome.

But, if I have any complaint, I wonder why those with experience in establishing and managing genuine viable broad-based groups are absent from the team. People like Clifford Elk (MIC), Kgotso Schoeman (Kagiso Trust), Tanya Slabbert or Sonja Sebotsa (Women's Development Bank) and (my shareholder) Salukazi Dakile-Hlongwane (Nozala).

Also some people who manage BEE compliance from within major corporates would also have been useful, and I think particularly here of Nolitha Fakude, who's absence from this Council is notable.

In the interests of ensuring consistency in policy, I think it might have been useful for the President to co-opt Philisiwe Buthelezi from the National Empowerment Fund, but perhaps her role will be like that of the BEE Unit of the DTI, which is (I assume) to guide and support the Council.

But that said, I am still very impressed.

(ENDS)

Oy, Zumachine Gun - if you're reading this do as Kevin says (this is Paul writing).

PIC and Cyril - two from Business Report

This is truly an hysterical article.  I would normally Tweet on these things but it warranted a lot more than 140 characters.   Ann Crotty reports that the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which manages about R800 billion of funds on behalf of the Government Employees Fund, is in discussions with the Department of Public Works to resolve concerns about the PIC's black economic empowerment (BEE) status.

PIC chief operations officer Albertina Kekana said various government departments and local authorities were tenants of properties owned and managed by the PIC and noted, "we sometimes have difficulty with renewing leases because the department's procurement officers say we're not empowered".

And the upshot of this lack of empowered status

in some instances the PIC struggled to collect rent from the departments and local authorities.

This either goes to show how clueless government departments are about BEE (which they are) or that PPPFA cannot come to terms with state-owned entities bidding for government contracts.  The latter is addressed in the new regulations.

The only BEE solution I can think of is the BEE that of a BEE Facilitator.  Paragraph 3.4.3 of code 100 states

The Minister may by notice in the gazette, designate certain Public Entities as BEE Facilitators. In calculating their Ownership score, Measured Enterprises must treat BEE Facilitators as having rights of Ownership held:

• 100% by Black People;
• 40% by Black Women;
• 10% by black designated groups:
• without any acquisition debts; and
• without any third-party rights.

In other words they get the full 20 points for ownership.  The DTI has done it before with PetroSA.  I suppose the question is whether the PIC is a Public Entity.  They are not in Schedule 2 of the PFMA but then neither is PetroSA.  They do say that they are subject to three different acts - one of which is the PFMA. 

Cyril doesn't like BEE lockins

Also from the Business Report today written by Mzwandile Jacks.  Mzwandile is a great journalist - I've met him before

Bidvest chairman Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday launched a fierce assault on black economic empowerment (BEE ) lock-in agreements, saying they inhibited black access to profit.

He reckons it messes with the spirit of empowerment and he's right.  Being locked-in because you fulfil certain BEE requirements is stupid and sorely lacking in any business sense.  They've tried to alleviate this problem with the "once empowered, always empowered" rule, which Cyril says is open to abuse. 

The "once empowered, always empowered", "continuing consequences", "high watermark" rule is a fantastic get-out clause for black players.  They stay in the business for three years, make a bit of cash and go.  The business continues to recognise the ownership level (albeit with reduced points) and everyone is happy. 

However Ajay Lalu does not agree with me (he apparently drafted that useless verification manual)

Ajay Lalu, a BEE expert and partner at Bravura Consulting, said the "once empowered, always empowered" approach was enshrined in the financial sector charter. "This goes against the spirit of broad-based BEE," Lalu said.

I don't really understand this paragraph but if I am reading the bold correctly then Ajay is talking the most misinformed drivel yet uttered in the BEE world - and the competition for that accolade is fierce.  Let's go back the preamble of  BEE Act.  And I quote

(to) promote the achievement of the constitutional right to equality, increase broad-based and effective participation of black people in the economy and promote a higher growth rate, increased employment and more equitable income distribution

If the rule is properly implemented then you'll achieve a few of these requirements and the underlined part.

Caird has developed an accounting officer's template for EMEs that contains all the necessary information that an EME might need to adequately demonstrate their EME status. This document contains an affidavit that contractors can sign confirming their EME status (this is very useful for procurement departments). The cost is R350 - for more information email me.

 

Jacob Zuma on plans for economic transformation

Zuma's ANC letter beautifully precised by Moneyweb as "ANC president responds to the concerns raised by the BMF over Eskom and other SOE's". 

A few features/quotes

• One of the key focus areas of the ANC government is economic transformation.
• We emphasise that the creation of decent work will be at the centre of our economic policies and will influence our investment attraction and job-creation initiatives.

To achieve this, we said we would utilise state levers such as procurement, licensing and financial support to assist small and medium enterprises as well as to promote the implementation of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and affirmative action policies. These policies must not just benefit a few but should be extended to a broad section, especially the workers, youth, women and people with disabilities.

(You know where licensing comes in - good old section 10)

And then a reference to the BMF (who now deny that they ever suggested Bobby is racist, but they want the board to resign).  And now for a post within a post.  This is from November the 9th (Business Report) in which they called for the resignation of the board and threw in a few choice epithets.

Mnyaka said the problems at the power utility stemmed from an ideological disconnection between the strategic imperatives of the ANC government and the board led by its chairman Bobby Godsell, as well as lack of clarity between his and Maroga's role. She added that Maroga was a victim of "anti-transformation people with a racist agenda" at the electricity parastatal.

'nuff sed about that.  Back to Zumachine Gun

• Our meetings with black business sensitised us to some actions of government which serve to hamper the development of small entrepreneurs. One of these is the delays in paying small businesses.
  
  During the election campaign we said we would change the way in which government works, and that we would ensure faster delivery. Treasury Regulations on the approval of expenditure in government states that unless determined otherwise in a contract or other agreement, all payments due to creditors must be settled within 30 days from receipt of an invoice or, in the case of civil claims, from the date of settlement or court judgment.
  
  We have instructed all government departments to comply with this regulation without delay.
• To further streamline our transformation work, we are currently in the process of appointing a BBBEE Advisory Council which in terms of the BBBEE Act will be chaired by the President of the Republic. This process should be completed in a few weeks’ time. The Council’s responsibility will be among others to advise government on black economic empowerment, monitor implementation and review progress in achieving black economic empowerment.

That's about it.  You can read the whole thing here.

I am a MAC-a-tini

  Would you believe it, unbeknownst to almost everyone I know, the Media, Advertising and Communication (MAC) Sector had been planning their own little charter which they have now gazetted under section 12.   I haven't looked through it properly but its weightings and targets are substantially different to the codes. I revert back to Kevin Lester's submission to the DTI regarding the Tourism Charter.  If you read Kevin's comments then you'll draw the conclusion that this charter will not make a section 9 gazetting.  This means that subscribers to this charter will have to produce a codes scorecard and a MAC scorecard - that is of course when the PPPFA and B-BBBE Act are eventually aligned.  (More below)

On the subject of Kevin, the DTI sent out a press release stating that (thanks Louise)

The Department has noted with concern advertisements suggesting that a partnership exist between it and the Association of BEE Verification Agencies (ABVA) and Transcend Corporate Advisors. The department would like to state categorically that no relationship exists between the department and the two organizations relating to the training sessions on the Verification Manual.

I am firmly of the opinion that ALL other BEE courses and seminars that are being offered are utter rubbish - rehashed bullshit by self professed experts who are largely clueless.

 The Transcend courses do not fit this bill and the DTI would doing themselves a favour by aligning themselves with them.  I would regard this as an endorsement - so go on the Transcend courses, tell them I sent you.

DTI B-BBEE IT portal
Still no sign of it.  The DTI issued an update on the 31st of August where they said it would be live on the 1st of September, 2008 (year specified) and still nothing.  I can't understand why they would make such announcements when everybody knows they'll never keep to their deadlines.  In the same release they state

Considerable work has been done by National Treasury and the dti to align the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act with the Codes and the National Treasury will communicate the outcome of this process in due course.

We wait with bated breath

Phosative
I like Matthews Phosa - h has a good business head and we can only benefit from this.  He is reported in the Business Day today on the subject of the FSC. 

there should be less concern about adding another 5% to the black economic empowerment (BEE) ownership of major financial institutions, and more focus on making BEE truly broad-based. 

Smack on the money Matthews - although the report does note that he won't be popular with  the labour and community sectors.  So what - he'll be popular with the business community and these are the people that create the jobs for the unions.  Read the article - it's a welcome breath of fresh air.