Broad-based BEE: The good, the bad and the ugly

As the winds of change are starting to blow through the political economy and as we look to rebuild after the Covid earthquake the space is opening up to talk about transformation in the country. Michael Avery prefers the term normalisation. Because that is effectively what broad-based BEE and the country’s transformation laws are trying to achieve. The correction of decades of abnormal race-based exclusion from economic activity towards a more normal picture influenced by hard work meeting equal opportunity with a measure of talent and good luck thrown into the mix. But broad-based BEE is hotly debated. BEE has a cost not just for shareholders, empowerment via state procurement has a cost. As former finance minister Trevor Manuel said in his testimony before the Zondo Commission, “we need to retain BEE to ensure we have a more inclusive economy. But some of these things have lent themselves to abuse. I hope we can have a nationwide discussion about how we can remedy some of these matters.” That debate seems to be opening up at last with new research into broad-based BEE, the Sanlam Gauge report, published last week, showing strong transformation scores, but industry commentators say there is a mismatch between inputs and outputs.

Michael Avery hosted

Andile Khumalo, CEO of KhumaloCo and co-founder of Sanlam Gauge;

Lerato Ratsoma, MD of leading empowerment verification firm Empowerdex;

& Johnny Goldberg, a leading voice in labour law, Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment, CEO at Global Business Solutions

to a discussion on what the Report reveals about the true state of transformation in South Africa.