Staff Writer | 10 March 2026 United States Ambassador to South Africa, Leo Brent Bozell III, says Washington is running out of patience with Pretoria’s lack of action on what he called a ‘list of five asks’ delivered to Pretoria a year ago. These ‘asks’ were first reported in June 2025 , based on feedback from a delegation of Afrikaner leaders who met with senior White House officials at the time. While the South African government acknowledged “political” and “ideological” d

Shaun Jacobs | 10 March 2026 Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt believes that the creation of the Transformation Fund will be the end of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) as it is currently devised in South Africa.  BEE will not disappear entirely, but the way in which companies comply with the regulatory framework will fundamentally change.  Companies, through the Transformation Fund, will be able to effectively “buy” their BEE compliance rather than have to go throu

Thami Magubane | 4 March 2026 Rules governing Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) must be tightened and made more punitive to ensure compliance and clamp down on criminality such as fronting. These are among the changes called for amid frustration that the policy, which is supposed to uplift the black majority and ensure their participation in the economy, is being undermined by acts of criminality like fronting. Fronting is when a black person pretends to own a b

Ido Lekota | 5 March 2026 The government’s decision to focus on reviewing the implementation of broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) rather than ending the policy has received another critical endorsement from Black business, development funding institutions such as the National Development Fund (NEF) and the Industrial Development Trust (IDT), traditional leaders, and civil society.  This arises from the recent Frank Dialogue on the Future of BEE organised by Prof

Shaun Jacobs | 9 March 2026 Annual Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) compliance costs the South African economy up to R290 billion a year in direct costs, as well as lost economic activity. This equates to around 3% of South Africa’s entire annual GDP.  While this is not necessarily a problem in itself, as every policy comes with a tradeoff of sorts and a cost, BEE is coming under increasing scrutiny as to whether it provides any benefit to South Africans.  The policy framewor

Zainul Dawood | 4 March 2026 Job creation is a priority for the eThekwini Municipality when they participate in the Global Business Services (GBS) development programme costing R3 million per year. A report from the Economic Development and Planning Committee was approved in council for the GBS sector development programme to undertake development programmes to grow the sector in the eThekwini municipal area and to improve employment creation. The municipality will also enter

Thami Magubane | 5 March 2026 The Commission on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) has expressed concerns about the lack of transformation in key areas of the property sector. A study by the commission titled “South Africa's Transformation Landscape 2013-2023” has found that the sector is lagging behind in several indicators of transformation on the B-BBEE scorecard. The study tracked macro and sector compliance trends and progress across key B-BBEE elements such

Ian Ferguson | 2 March 2026 Peter Attard Montalto’s most recent column refers (“After the budget delivery is up to line departments”, February 25). Our state does not do “long, hard slogs”, or if it does it is usually to double down on irrational, racial and ideologically damaging economic policies. One example is the Mining Charter, which blocks any foreign direct investment into new mining, the sector that is responsible for the present windfall in tax revenue. Due to the E

Myrna Sachs | 2 March 2026 In today’s rapidly evolving workplace, employee well-being can no longer be viewed through a narrow or purely physical lens. Mental health and invisible disabilities, once considered private or peripheral, are now central to organisational sustainability, productivity and inclusion. Employers and HR leaders have a responsibility to create environments where employees feel safe, seen and supported, even when their challenges are not immediately visib

Luke Fraser | 25 February 2026 Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says South Africa is finally seeing a shift following over a decade of financial struggles, with debt now stabilising after 17 years. Speaking at the 2026 National Budget, Godongwana said that South Africa is starting to turn the corner. Over the last decade, South Africa has been decimated by state capture, credit downgrades, the Covid-19 pandemic and the grey listing by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) i

SA News | 25 February 2026 Transformation will not succeed unless all key stakeholders embrace it, defend it and implement it with conviction.   This is according to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau. He was speaking during the historic engagement session between the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition and all 11 Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Sector Charter Councils in Pretoria on Tuesday. The session marked the first time

Jeanette Chabalala | 23 February 2026 Business tycoon Sandile Zungu says while control of the economy is firmly in the hands of a minority, 90% of black South Africans have no meaningful management or control of the economy. “It is a despicable situation. It is unacceptable. It has got to be challenged,” Zungu said in an interview with Sowetan editor Sibongakonke Shoba for the podcast show In the Know. According to Zungu, whites make up 10% or less of the population — a figur

Tasneem Bulbulia | 19 February 2026 The Competition Tribunal has confirmed, as an order, a consent agreement between the Competition Commission and Wilmar SA (formerly Wilmar Continental Edible Oils and Fats). Although it has agreed to enter into a consent agreement and pay a settlement amount of R1-million among other requirements, Wilmar denies having contravened the Competition Act. In December 2016, the commission initiated a complaint against Wilmar and other firms for a

Staff Writer | 22 February 2026 President Cyril Ramaphosa has doubled down on Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa, saying that instead of loosening the laws or heeding calls to abolish them, the country should lean into taking them further. Responding to the debate on his State of the Nation Address last week, the president chided political parties, including those within the Government of National Unity (GNU), for wanting to scrap the laws. He insisted that broad-base

Pieter Steyn | 17 February 2026 The Codes set out the methodology for calculating a firm’s BBBEE rating.  Significant changes have been proposed to cater for the proposed new Transformation Fund and changes to the BBBEE procurement scorecard. While not yet binding and still open for public comment, the proposed changes indicate Government policy and have important potential implications for business in South Africa . On 29 January 2026, proposed changes to the Codes were pub

Raymond Parsons | 16 February 2026 Commenting on President Cyril Ramaphosa's delivery of his State-of-the-Nation Address (Sona) in Parliament last week, North-West University Business School economist, Raymond Parsons said the focus on crime reduction, water security, SMME support, and Eskom reforms aims to drive inclusive, job-rich growth. Sona stresses swift implementation and investor confidence as South Africa seeks to seize a “window of opportunity” to strengthen its eco

Kgomotso Lebele | 11 February 2026 South Africans are no strangers to instability. Some major public and private organisations have experienced rapid leadership turnover over the past two decades, with each change coinciding with operational setbacks and governance strain. Such frequent transitions are clear signals of systemic fragility. High leadership turnover erodes trust, disrupts economic recovery, and ultimately forces organisations into survival mode rather than enabl

ENCA | 13 February 2026 JOHANNESBURG - Approximately eight million people were officially unemployed in South Africa in the third quarter of 2025, representing an official unemployment rate of 31.9 percent, according to Statistics South Africa. Youth unemployment among 15- to 24-year-olds stood at 62.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025. While President Cyril Ramaphosa said during his Thursday night State of the Nation Address that the government has created over 2.5 millio

Reabetswe Maputla | 10 February 2026 According to Statistics SA, the unemployment level of black women as of 2025 is 40.2%, despite affirmative action. Decades after the end of apartheid, women in South Africa remain disproportionately concentrated in certain jobs. One of the reasons the Employment Equity Act exists is to help advance people from historically disadvantaged groups into all levels of employment. Yet the employment gap between men and women is getting bigger, p

Yuneal Padayachy | 11 February 2026 On Thursday, 29 January 2026, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) took a fundamental step in South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) transformation narrative by publishing Government Gazette Number 54032 . This introduces a suite of draft amendments to the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice for 60 days of public comment. These proposals signal a forward-looking re-engineering of South Africa’s empowerm