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

The Employment and Labour Minister recently announced an increase in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) to R30,23  per hour as of 01 March 2026. The increment aligns with the NMW Act of 2018 . The policy framework of this Act is the floor, a level below which no employee should be paid.   The Act dictates that it is illegal and unfair labour practice for an employer to unilaterally alter an employee's working hours or other Conditions of Employment due to the wage adjustment. No

Sonja Boshoff | 10 February 2026 There seems to be a trend in our country’s political discourse of turning practical infrastructure questions into identity, and perhaps ideological battles. The current Starlink debate is the most recent example that includes more heat than light. There is far too little focus on the people who pay the price for slow delivery, including our rural communities, small town entrepreneurs, pupils, clinics and transport operators trying to function

Jacob Webster | 9 February 2026 The minister backtracked on a proposal to place BEE requirements on prospecting rights in June. Mining minister Gwede Mantashe said his recent reversal on empowerment requirements for prospectors should not signal a retreat from BEE, which remains vital to the local mining sector’s agenda. “Many say BEE is driving investors out. It is not. It is an opportunity given to people who were excluded by apartheid. Do your exploration. At the point of

Nyaniso Qwesha | 8 February 2026 When a 124-year-old South African industrial giant quietly leaves the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, it should give us pause. Barloworld’s R23 billion acquisitions by the Saudi-backed Zahid Group and the Black-owned Entsha consortium, followed by its delisting after 86 years on the JSE, mark the end of a long public chapter in the company’s history. The deal has been framed as a transformation, a renewal, and a fresh start. But behind the reassu

Lihle Mvusi, Nthateng Mhlambiso, Nokuthula Futwa and Tabisa Bata | 5 February 2026 Students end up starving and homeless, and also risk dropping out. When Amanda Shinga, 24, from Port Shepstone in KwaZulu-Natal, enrolled at the Buffalo City TVET College in the Eastern Cape in 2021, her first year was shaped by systemic neglect. For the first four months, she did not receive her National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) stipend, forcing her to survive on handouts while liv

Lyse Comins | 4 February 2026 The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has gazetted procedures that elevate Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) compliance as a core criterion in allocating preferential export quotas to the European Union under the SADC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) for 2026. Published in Government Gazette No. 54037 on January 30, the notice outlines the application, administration and allocation of Tariff Rate Q

The Drafts are not merely technical changes, they reflect a policy direction with practical implications for business transformation, compliance strategy, and economic participation. Some of the major areas that have been introduced are as follows:   Introduction of a Transformation Fund   A major proposal is the establishment of a Transformation Fund as an alternative compliance route to traditional Enterprise & Supplier Development (ESD) spend. Businesses could contribute a

Malcolm Libera | 4 February 2026 The government’s plan to channel R100 billion into black-owned businesses through a Transformation Fund has come under fire, with critics warning that it risks becoming another poorly governed, corruption-prone initiative with limited real economic impact. On 19 March 2025, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau published the Draft Transformation Fund concept document for public comment. The proposal outlines a fund capitalised

Staff Writer | 4 February 2026 End Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) premiums and save taxpayers billions of rands by endorsing the Value for Money Bill drafted by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR). This is the challenge IRR CEO Dr John Endres has delivered in a letter to Cyril Ramaphosa as the President finalises his ninth State of the Nation (SONA) speech, slated for 12 February. The Value for Money Bill is part of a legislative package drafted by the IRR aimed at genuin

Sihle Bulose and Lebogang Molebale | 2 February 2026 As corporate regulation evolves globally, new frameworks are emerging that reconceptualise the relationship between governance, strategy and value creation. These are not merely updated compliance requirements but rather comprehensive reimagining of what responsible corporate stewardship means in an era defined by technological disruption, environmental pressure and unprecedented stakeholder scrutiny. Evolution of corporate

Terence Creamer | 29 January 2026 Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau has Gazetted proposed amendments to the existing Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) codes of good practice in a bid to open the way for the establishment of a new Transformation Fund. The notice has allocated 60 days for public comment on the draft amendments. These especially affect the codes that deal with enterprise and supplier development (ESD), which will serve as the main

Jaco Mulder | 28 January 2026 The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) calls on business leaders and investors to take a firm stand against the R100 billion BEE fund proposed by the ANC Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau. The original aim of Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) – to economically empower black South Africans – has not been achieved. Under ANC rule, the system was exploited to enrich a small group of billionaires while the broader public

Philippa Larkin | 28 January 2026 SME empowerment organisation Unconventional CA (UCA) has raised concerns that the Transformation Fund offering big black economic empowerment points incentive reflects no meaningful shift from earlier drafts and is unlikely to serve the real needs and requirements of South Africa’s entrepreneurs and small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs). This is in response to the news that the government is getting ready to move ahead with the revamped

The author or deponent of a Sworn Affidavit must be a duly represented registered Director / Owner / Shareholder / Member etc. of an organisation as per company documentation. Where an organisation has foreign shareholders, the same principle applies. A Sworn Affidavit is invalid if anyone other than duly represented individuals function as a deponent.   Certificate Collection Services   are available to assist with identifying valid and invalid Sworn Affidavits.

For most SETAs, the deadline for submitting Workplace Skills Plans (WSPs) and Annual Training Reports (ATRs) is 30th April 2026. Where organisations must submit these reports to their relevant SETA, they should obtain points under the Skills Development element.   As Skills Development is an identified Priority Element, not submitting an ATR and WSP could trigger the Discounting Principle, which will impact an organisation’s overall score.   The information contained in the W

Jens Langenhorst | 26 January 2026 Starlink dominates South African headlines, but pricing and market realities raise questions about who it's really for. South African media has been saturated with Starlink coverage for months. Every ministerial statement, every regulatory development, every parliamentary objection becomes headline news. Yet amid this relentless coverage, a curious question emerges: why Starlink specifically? The regulatory challenges facing Elon Musk’s sat

Tiisetso Motsoeneng | 27 January 2026 The government is preparing to launch a revamped Transformation Fund as early as next week, rewriting incentives that have shaped corporate behaviour for more than two decades. A trade, industry & competition ministerial briefing pack, seen by Business Day, shows that companies will be able to earn 30 broad-based BEE (BBBEE) points by contributing 3% of net profit after tax to the fund — double the points currently available for the same

Rebecca Campbell | 26 January 2026 The Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) has stressed that providing equitable access to high-quality maths and science education, especially for learners in under-resourced and rural areas, is a priority. Such education is essential to unlock career opportunities for young people in science-based industries and for the country’s long-term development. Yet gaps in maths and science education persisted. Addressing th

FA News | 20 January 2026 The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), an entity of the Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSETA) to advance skills development, innovation, and capacity-building within the insurance sector and related industries. The MoU was signed on Thursday 18 December in Johannesburg. Through this five-year agreement the two entiti