Presenter: Lindsay
Williams Guest(s):
Jeffrey Main
It’s intended that the BEE codes will be
ratified by the end of 2006 - but now the Minister of Trade and
Industry admits they’re complex. Classic Business Day gets
Jeffrey Ndumo on the line from the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI). Bruce Main from Ivy Asset management is the studio guest
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Jeffrey, they’re too “complex”
- what are we going to do about it?
JEFFREY NDUMO: We recognise that the codes are
a bit complex on a number of levels - it’s the issue of language
that’s highly technical. What we want to do is to try to simplify
that language to make it much easier - and accessible to the majority
of South Africans. The other point we are trying to deal with is
the question of simplifying it in terms of a number of indicators.
We had sought initially to really push for transformation through
designing a number of indicators - what we’re now intending
is to reduce those so that we have very few indicators for measurement,
and then in that way it becomes easier for people to implement.
The issue here is to achieve compliance - so it can be easier for
companies to comply.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Have companies come to you at
the DTI and said: “We can’t understand the BEE codes
- please simplify them”? Or is this something you recognised
yourself? We’ve lost Jeffrey. Bruce, one comment I’ve
heard about the BEE codes is that companies are using the delay
in ratification of the codes as an excuse to delay their BEE initiatives.
This is something that has to be embraced quickly I would have thought?
BRUCE MAIN: I think BEE certainly in South Africa
has been going on for quite some time, and I think anyone involved
with large contracts needs to look at and address their BEE credentials.
I think where there’s a struggle is probably the smaller businesses
- how do they adapt to these codes, what do they have to do? Some
of these businesses don’t have to the staff or the capability.
So having a smaller outlook - in terms of the range of things that
have to be done, and simplification - makes it a lot easer for those
companies to start looking at it.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Yes, the big companies can put
out project management teams and task forces - and set aside human
manpower in order to comply with the BEE codes - but the smaller
companies getting on with the business of making money maybe can’t.
So the playing fields I suppose have to be levelled.
BRUCE MAIN: It’s also very difficult from
the point of view that the larger businesses obviously get substantial
contracts from this where smaller businesses are not necessarily
likely to get those - that’s also an element that needs to
be addressed.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: We’re still trying to
get Jeffrey on the line from the DTI - is it Telkom’s fault?
We don’t know. We were exploring the simplification of the
BEE codes and their ratification hopefully happen by the end of
2006.
