Procurement has a role to play in black economic empowerment (BEE), but BEE is not procurement’s mandate, said Murray Chabant, BEE ownership strategist and Director at Signa Advisors.
“Rather, there should be a transformation committee, at which procurement sits. That way all strategies within a business can align to get the most benefit,” said Chabant, speaking at the BEEsmart Symposium earlier this week.
He jested that ‘black economic empowerment’ may be the wrong name for the regulations, considering that the objective is country-wide economic development.
BEE is about unlocking South Africa’s economy and up-skilling people, added Olga Meshoe, Director at Transcend Corporate Advisors.
“One can consider the link between enterprise and supplier development (ESD) and procurement as return on investment – long-term investment in the form of tapping into people’s potential, said Meshoe.
To achieve that level of development, one cannot merely box-tick-comply. “BEE is a strategic imperative. If you are not discussing BEE at a board level you cannot be doing it right. Either it is a commercial driver or you’re getting it wrong,” said Dionne Kerr of Siyakha Consulting.
“Do not be afraid of BEE. Transformation is a journey. Organisations must focus on what they can achieve – you need only achieve 80 of 118 points, which means every organisation will have a different strategy,” noted Kerr.
Meanwhile, in terms of exempt micro enterprises and the fact that the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA) still does not allow for CIPC and CID affidavits, Liso Steto, currently acting as Chief Director at the department of Trade and Industry (dti) acknowledged that “this is hampering BEE implementation, but National Treasury is rightfully exercising precaution around the affidavit issue. We have requested an instruction note on the PPPFA regulations to procurement officials and indications are that this is in the pipeline.”
“In the mean time, if you do get a certificate that is not recognised then make contact with the dti,” added Steto
The sector codes aligned with the New BEE coded are expected to be released before 1 November 2015.
