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Nozizwa Vundla | 25 May 2023 Changing the country's course requires much attention to the cognitive development of children. A staggering 57% of SA children in early childhood development (ECD) are not on track for cognitive and/or physical development, according to the Thrive by Five Index. To address this and provide a tangible impact that’ll help change the country’s course, Sanlam is targeting ECD through the new Sanlam Foundation Education Programme. These efforts are rooted in the belief that every child has the right to the highest standard of education, no matter their socioeconomic background. The programme will reach 1,403 pupils and 40 teachers across 20 ECD centres and 14 primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng. The programme will be scaled up and refined once Sanlam starts receiving monitoring and evaluation (M&E) data. It’s a commitment for the long term through a pipeline approach, from ECD to primary and secondary school. In SA we have the three horsemen of the apocalypse — unemployment, inequality and poverty. It’s not just joblessness, it’s unemployability that plagues us. Young people don’t have the basics of numeracy and literacy needed to be employable or to run their own businesses. About two-million children start grade R each year and only one-million matriculate. ECD interventions are instrumental in addressing this sustainably. The Sanlam Foundation Education Programme The programme partners with world-class implementation experts to foster strong foundational skills. This work is anchored by a theory of change and measurable outcomes that are regularly reported on so the programme is data-driven. Nutrition: The Thrive by Five report found one in 18 children in South Africa has signs of long-term malnutrition. The first 1,000 days of a child’s life are crucial, so we provide a nutritious and age-appropriate daily meal at all schools we work with. Science, technology, engineering and maths: In a class of 20 children starting grade R, just eight are on track to start their formal education with the right foundation. We are focusing on teacher and principal training to ensure robust numeracy and literacy skills are embedded early. Home language: Imagine learning foundational maths concepts in a language you don’t speak. The Sanlam programme focuses on home languages because children learn better in the language they know best. Psycho-social support: Sanlam provides support to identify issues that may affect a child’s learning early — such as ADHD and dyslexia — and nurture the child with targeted interventions and additional care. Robotics: We must ensure none of our children are left behind as we enter a new era. We hope to share our knowledge and what we've learnt as the programme unfolds and to continue learning from others who run similar projects. Corporate social responsibility is an area that doesn't need competition. The Sanlam Foundation Education Programme is eager to work with corporates to tackle systemic issues in our education system. The Sanlam Gauge showed corporates consistently over-index on spend in the socioeconomic development element of the B-BBEE scorecards. Sadly, there’s usually no real M&E on this spend, which makes it difficult to derive the impact of the initiatives. Imagine what we could achieve if we all adopt a targeted approach and work together as corporates to help resolve the ECD crisis in this country, with M&E at the centre of our efforts. Having recently partnered with Business Day to launch the Sanlam ESG Barometer, the institution has placed greater focus on the “S” of the three pillars of sustainability: environment, social, governance. We want to empower all Africans to be financially confident and prosperous, and that begins with a strong educational start. ‘Disclaimer - The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’. https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2023-05-25-native-sanlam-launches-education-programme-to-boost-ecd-centres/

Special Reports | 24 May 2023 Hlubi Shivanda, Director of Business Operations and Innovation and Corporate Affairs at Samsung South Africa Samsung has proudly announced that its continued investment in South Africa, coupled with its dedication to remain an active contributor to the future of the local economy and strong supporter of economic transformation, has contributed to the company’s Level-1 B-BBEE status for five consecutive years. The company has achieved this incredible recognition by embarking on many empowerment, entrepreneurial and skills-based projects in the ICT sector in which it operates. Samsung is augmenting its national transformation policies through Employment Equity, Enterprise Development and investment in education. In particular, the company is building on its landmark multi-millionaire Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP), which is already celebrating over three years of sustained success. Launched in May 2019, Samsung’s EEIP programme is expected to have a measurable impact on job creation with a projected contribution of over a billion rands to the South African economy at large. Samsung’s 10-year plan aims to address key developmental aspects linked to the National Development Plan and the overall transformation of the local economy. The company’s EEIP programme has seen an investment in black, female-owned entities which now operate in the full value chain of e-Waste. Samsung also has a strong focus on enterprise development and capacity building in ICT through scarce skills development. When Samsung entered South Africa at the dawn of democracy; it placed a great focus on harnessing the power of technology and innovation to effect great positive change in the country. Since then, Samsung has made incredible strides forward in its long-term vision for the country. Samsung is also developing 4IR skills in partnership with a number of institutions of higher learning in South Africa. The company has launched many skills development initiatives, which are not only created for developing internal employees, but also supporting university students studying in fields within Samsung’s ecosystem and value chain. With wide-ranging support of the country’s youth through bursaries, learnerships and the Samsung Engineering Academy programme, South African youth are gaining artisanal and electronics skills. Samsung is looking forward to a future defined by equality and empowerment for all through these initiatives that have and continue to make an impact across the country, and are aimed at developing the youth’s skills-for-employability. The Solve For Tomorrow competition is a Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) aligned educational programme that provides learners in grades 10 and 11 from underserved communities an opportunity to gain invaluable skills while solving some of the challenges within their communities. Recently launched, this competition is being piloted in 51 schools across the country. Learners are encouraged to use STEM in finding solutions to some of the most pressing societal challenges that are faced by their communities. Additionally, the Samsung Innovation Campus programme partners with universities of technology to develop and teach coding, software development, internet of things (IOT) and artificial intelligence (AI) skills to youth from under-serviced communities. Hlubi Shivanda, Director of Business Operations and Innovation and Corporate Affairs at Samsung South Africa, said: “This incredible achievement of the Level 1–B-BBEE Rating for five consecutive years is a reaffirmation of Samsung’s commitment to prioritising B-BBEE as a non-negotiable practice within our businesses. The overarching goal of the country’s B-BBEE programme is the upliftment of the South African economy. As Samsung, we have over the years focused on policies that are designed to empower South Africans in meaningful ways. Our vision for the country is therefore closely aligned with the Government’s B-BBEE policy.” Samsung’s transformation efforts are a clear indication of the company’s tremendous contribution to the achievement of the country’s overall B-BBEE goals and objectives. The key focus areas of Samsung’s overall B-BBEE philosophy and strategy (excluding the Ownership element, which is subject to EEIP) are centred on the following: The annual progression of race and gender representation at each occupational level, with specific emphasis on African male and African female representation. Increased focus on both employed learners and unemployed learners, supported by an emphasis on creating work experiences post the learnership/internship period — this is over and above Samsung’s EEIP commitments; Provision of education support through bursaries, both internally and externally. Continued focus on development of black talent in the Samsung South Africa business. Redirecting existing spend to qualifying Black-Owned and Black-Women Owned (BWO) Qualifying Small Enterprises (“QSEs”) and Exempt Micro Enterprises (“EMEs”) to include them in the existing procurement value chain of Samsung South Africa, with a focus on the following areas that have been approved: Marketing, Services, Sales, Logistics and Recruitment. Provision of grant and preferential loan funding to qualifying Enterprise Development beneficiaries, with the possibility of graduating them to become suppliers to Samsung South Africa. In addition to increasing spend with identified Supplier Development beneficiaries, the qualifying entities may be provided with grant and preferential loan funding; and Education-focused Socio-Economic Development initiatives through the Samsung Innovation Campus and Solve For Tomorrow competition umbrella as furtherance of the Samsung South Africa’s commitment to the upliftment of underserved communities. “Samsung knows that it is no small responsibility to realise the country’s long-term goals as this requires collective effort from citizens, corporate organisations and government. At Samsung, we believe that transformation is a business imperative and a requirement for the sustainability of our business. However, we are also convinced that concerted transformation efforts can have incredible socio-economic impact and lasting change in the country’s economy,” added Shivanda. About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at https://news.samsung.com/za/ ‘Disclaimer - The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’. https://mg.co.za/partner-content/2023-05-24-samsungs-continued-investment-in-south-africa-contributes-to-level-1-b-bbee-status-for-5th-consecutive-year/

According to the Employment Equity Act No. 55 of 1998, as Amended (EEA), if an organisation fits the definition of a ‘Designated Employer’, it is obligated to perform the duties outlined in sections 16 through to 26 of the Act. Failure to do this puts a Designated Employer at risk of having a fine imposed according to Schedule 1 of the EEA. Fines can range between R1.5m and 10% of an organisation’s turnover, depending on the type and number of contraventions. The EEA defines a Designated Employer as an organisation with 50 or more employees. Otherwise, it is a business with less than 50 employees but a turnover that exceeds the industry threshold as indicated in Schedule 4 of the Act, as follows: The gazetting of the Draft Amendments to the EEA is imminent. Following the gazette, the only criterion for being a Designated Employer will be 50 or more employees as the turnover thresholds will be removed. Until the gazette, those that are currently designated due to turnover must still comply. Before the 2013 EEA amendments (Act 47 of 2013), if a Labour Inspector found that a Designated Employer was non-compliant in performing its duties, the Department of Employment and Labour (DoEL) was obligated to follow a process which necessitated: Obtaining a Written Undertaking (EEA5); Issuing a Compliance Order (EEA6); and Applying to the Labour Court to impose a fine. In essence, Designated Employers had two opportunities to rectify any non-compliances before the DoEL imposed a fine. One of the most significant amendments to the EEA that came into effect on 1st August 2014 is that the DoEL no longer had to follow steps 1 and 2 as outlined on page 41. Thus, since then, the DoEL has had the immediate power to apply to the Labour Court to impose a fine. In most instances, the DoEL will still follow the process. However, there is a significant risk that a Designated Employer may not have the opportunity to rectify any non-compliance issues. Therefore, advice to Designated Employers is that they remain compliant at all times. During an inspection, the DoEL will assess whether a Designated Employer complies with the following duties in line with the EEA requirements: Sections 16, 17 and 18 outline the duty to consult with employees. For this purpose, a Forum must be established with a membership that includes representatives of recognised trade unions and nominated staff representatives from all EE levels, incorporating all race and gender groups as well as persons with disabilities. Amongst others, the role of the Forum is to assist in the analysis of a Designated Employer’s current situation – as per section 19 that follows. The Forum provides a platform for consultation on the Designated Employer’s EE Plan – as per section 20 that follows and the EE Report - as per section 21 that follows. The Designated Employer must disclose all relevant information to enable the Forum to perform its duties. During an inspection, a Designated Employer must provide proof of the consultation. The evidence must incorporate the nomination process, including how members were nominated and the minutes of meetings, which should occur at least quarterly. Section 19 obligates a Designated Employer to: Through analysis, identify any barriers in policies, procedures or practices which may adversely impact Designated Groups, namely African, Coloured and Indian People, as well as women and persons with disabilities, both of which include White People; Identify Affirmative Action measures to overcome any barriers identified; Ascertain the degree of alignment of its employee profile across each EE level with the most recently published Economically Active Population (EAP) statistics. A Designated Employer must record the results of the analysis on the EEA12 template. The complete EEA12 does not accompany the submission to the DoEL, but must be available if requested during an inspection. Section 20 stipulates that a Designated Employer must develop an EE Plan to address any barriers and under-representation of specific groups identified during the analysis required in section 19. An EE Plan guides transformation and must, at a minimum, follow the format of the EEA13 template, as follows: The duration of the EE Plan must be between one and five years and include the barrier analysis and Affirmative Action measures. It must indicate the time frames and the positions of the employees responsible for implementing the Affirmative Action measures. A Designated Employer must set numerical goals and targets to include the aspirational racial, gender and disability profile per EE level for each year of the plan. It must indicate strategies to achieve these goals and targets, such as recruitment and retention strategies. An EE Plan must include the process to monitor achievements against the objectives as outlined in the plan. Furthermore, a transparent process is required to resolve disputes arising from the interpretation and implementation of the EE Plan. It must further highlight the senior manager appointed in terms of Section 24 that follows. As with the EEA12, the EEA13 does not accompany the submission to the DoEL. However, it must be available during an inspection upon request. Section 21 requires a Designated Employer to report its EE progress to the DoEL annually. The core aim of this is to assess the implementation of a Designated Employer’s EE Plan. The deadline is 1st October if submitting the report manually; otherwise, online submissions must reach the DoEL by 15th January of the following year. For reporting purposes, a Designated Employer must complete and submit an EEA2 and an EEA4 form. The information necessary for the EEA2 form is as follows: A snapshot of the workforce profile on the last day of the Designated Employer’s chosen EE reporting period, categorised by EE level, race, gender and disability status. Workforce movement for the reporting period, including recruitments, promotions and terminations, again per EE level, race and gender. A breakdown of the Beneficiaries of Skills Development interventions. These must only include Beneficiaries who had training interventions with the core aim of achieving numerical goals, again categorised by EE level, race and gender. A summary of identified barriers, including an estimate of the dates when Affirmative Action measures are earmarked for implementation. > The EE Plan must include the persons responsible for implementing such Affirmative Action measures. An Income Differential Statement - EEA4. The aim is to identify unfair discrimination in employment terms and conditions between different groups performing work of equal value and must accompany the EEA2 submission. Sections 22 through to 26 stipulate that a Designated Employer must: Publish a summary of its EE Report - in the EEA10 format - in its Annual Financial Report as section 22 indicates. Develop a successive EE Plan before the current plan expires, as per section 23. Officially assign and provide a formal mandate to at least one Senior EE Manager overseeing the implementation of the EE Plan as per section 24. Inform employees about the provisions in the EEA, as well as the content of the EE Plan and EE Report. Such communication must include any legislative actions against the Designated Employer concerning the provisions of the EEA as per section 25. Keep accurate records of all EE related documents and data as per section 26. The following table outlines the various fines applicable for different contraventions of the above sections. It is important to note that fines imposed are per contravention. For example, ABC Traders, a Designated Employer with an annual turnover below its industry threshold, was found to be non-compliant with both the duties to develop an EE Plan and the constitution of an EE Forum. They continued across multiple inspections not to address these contraventions. The fines that the DoEL will impose on ABC Traders are outlined in the table below. If ABC Traders’ turnover was more than the industry threshold, the applicable fines would be heftier. In summary, a Designated Employer must consider all requirements and time frames so that it does not falter and expose itself to the risk of hefty fines. The following 12 steps guide Designated Employers in remaining compliant. Appoint an EE Manager; Establish an EE Forum; Perform an analysis; Develop an EE Plan; Consult on the EE Plan with the EE Forum; Finalise the EE Plan; Prepare the EE Report; Consult on the EE Report with the Forum; Report the progress in implementing the EE Plan to the DoEL; Publish a summary of the EE Report in the Annual Financial Statements. However, this only applies to publicly listed Designated Employers; Communicate Employment Equity-related information to employees throughout the process; and Keep accurate records relating to every aspect of the implementation processes. Following these steps will provide peace of mind that a DoEL inspection will go smoothly, with limited findings and recommendations; therefore, a Designated Employer will lessen the risk of penalties. A parting note: this article indicates the minimum requirements to protect a Designated Employer by ensuring compliance with the EEA. However, the focus should always be to move beyond mere compliance to transformation, which requires implementing measures over and above those outlined here. Moving above and beyond will nurture a changing environment with capacitated relevant stakeholders.

Pierre de Vos | 23 May 2023 Employment equity legislation helps to ensure that black applicants are treated fairly and to limit the appointment of less talented white applicants over more talented black applicants. Utilised well, it is a powerful tool in the fight against intellectual mediocrity and stagnation. The recent publication of draft regulations setting out compulsory employment equity targets at senior occupational levels for employers with more than 50 employees in targeted sectors of the economy attracted harsh criticism from, among others, DA leader John Steenhuisen and leaders of the Solidarity trade union (read here and here). While the draft regulations are, quite frankly, an incoherent mess, much of the above criticism is based on misleading or demonstrably false claims about the legislation. Let me start by showing my hand. While employment equity legislation can be exploited to justify nepotism and unlawful instances of “cadre deployment”, it is part and parcel of the pursuit for equality and a requirement for its achievement. As the Constitutional Court held in Minister of Finance v Van Heerden, it is wrong to depict redress measures as a form of “reverse discrimination”. Without taking positive action (including in the workplace) to “eradicate socially constructed barriers to equality and to root out systematic or institutionalised under-privilege”, we cannot eradicate discrimination. To this, I would add a personal insight, based on stints as the chair of the faculty transformation committee and as head of an academic department at a South African university, about the pivotal role employment equity legislation can play in levelling the playing field when appointments are made, and in enhancing the quality of teaching and scholarship in a university. In my experience, employment equity legislation plays a pivotal role in limiting the impact of racial bias in appointment decisions. It helps to ensure that black applicants are treated fairly and to limit the appointment of less talented white applicants over more talented black applicants. Utilised well, it is a powerful tool in the fight against intellectual mediocrity and stagnation. It is from this perspective that I view the draft regulations recently issued by the minister of labour in accordance with newly inserted provisions of the Employment Equity Act (not yet brought into force). Currently, the act requires all employers who employ more than 50 people to prepare an employment equity plan for periods of up to five years to “achieve reasonable progress towards employment equity in that employer’s workforce”. The plan must set out, among others, the employment equity targets adopted by an employer to be achieved for each year of the plan, as well as the affirmative action measures to be implemented as required by section 15 of the act. Slow progress Before the adoption of the amendments, an employer was free to choose its targets (based on race, gender and disability), as long as its plan would make reasonable progress to correct the effects of past and ongoing discrimination in the employment sphere. Because many private sector employers made very slow progress in addressing the effects of past (racial) injustice, Parliament amended the act last year to force employers to adopt more aggressive employment equity targets. The new section 15A of the act allows the minister of labour to identify specific economic sectors (such as agriculture, mining, manufacturing, education and construction) and to set numerical employment equity targets for these sectors at all occupational levels in the workforce. Designated employers in these sectors are required to use the sectoral targets set by the minister in their employment equity plans, and their progress will (partly) be assessed based on these “imposed” targets. These targets are to be set nationally as well as for each province, and employers have to follow either the national targets or the targets set for their province. The minister has now issued draft regulations identifying the relevant economic sectors and proposing the equity targets for each sector as envisaged by section 15A of the act. In response, DA leader John Steenhuisen complained that this would impose “forced quotas” in “every workplace, in every economic sector, in every province”; would “restrict” the employment of “Indians” and “coloureds” in a severe manner; claimed that “if companies don’t comply, they are severely punished”, and called on “companies, big and small, to defy a law that prevents them from hiring skilled people”. Solidarity claimed that the adoption of the regulation would result in 71,518 “coloured” people, 116,934 “Indian” people and 404,608 “white” people losing their jobs nationally. It also provided numbers for each sector, claiming, for example, that 50,363 “white” people (69.5%), 25,275 “Indian” people (79.4%) and 18,450 “coloured” people (45.4%) working in financial services would have to vacate their jobs in the next five years. None of this is true. First, the new targets do not impose “forced quotas” as claimed. Section 15(3) of the Employment Equity Act makes clear that in seeking to achieve its equity targets, employers are permitted to give preferential treatment to underrepresented groups and to set numerical targets to be achieved, but “may not impose quotas”. South Africa’s Constitutional Court highlighted this in its judgment in South African Police Service v Solidarity obo Barnard, and noted the act requires employment equity plans to be flexible and inclusive and that a “designated employer may not adopt an employment equity policy or practice that would establish an absolute barrier to the future or continued employment or promotion of people who are not from designated groups”. It is true that section 42 of the act empowers the director-general of the Department of Labour to assess whether a designated employer is implementing employment equity in compliance with the act by considering a wide range of factors which now includes (in terms of section 42(aA) “whether the employer has complied with a sectoral target as set out in terms of section 15A” of the act. But it would be unlawful for the DG to order the employer to meet its sectoral target if this was not reasonable in the circumstances. In any event, if the DG determines that an employer had failed to implement an employment equity plan because it had not met the sectoral targets, he or she would not be empowered to impose a fine or to order the employer to implement the targets. In terms of section 45 of the act, the DG will have to approach the Labour Court for an order directing the employer to comply with the request or recommendation; or to impose a fine. The DG bears the onus of proof that the employer had not complied with the provisions of the act. This is an important safeguard against possible abuse or misapplication of the law by politically aligned functionaries. This is well illustrated by the 2009 Labour Court judgment in Director General of the Department of Labour v Comair (one of the few reported cases in which the DG had concluded that the employment equity plan of an employer did not comply with the provisions of the act), where the court concluded that the DG had failed to take into consideration all the factors set out in section 42 of the Act, and dismissed the application. Non-compliance In the only reported case I could find where the Labour Court had fined an employer for non-compliance (the 2007 judgment in Director General, Department of Labour v Win-Cool Industrial Enterprise (Pty) Ltd), the court imposed a penalty of R300,000 on the employer, of which R200,000 was suspended on condition that the employer complied with its obligations within a specified period. As far as I can tell, the vast majority of cases of non-compliance brought to the Labour Court involve cases where an employer had failed to comply with the formal requirements set out in the act, and not where there was a failure to achieve targets set out in an existing employment equity plan. Not only does the evidence not back up Mr Steenhuisen’s claims of draconian enforcement, it suggests that since 2009, the department of labour has been extremely lax in holding companies to account for their failure to achieve even modest employment equity targets. It is also not clear what the legal basis is for the claim by Solidarity that many hundreds of thousands of people would lose their jobs if the new provisions of the act were implemented. The law currently does not provide for this, as the Labour Court held in Robinson & Others v PricewaterhouseCoopers that “affirmative action is not, and never has been legitimate ground for retrenchment”. While codes of good practice allow employers to consider their employment equity targets when offering voluntary retrenchment packages to employees — and also suggest that an employer could moderate the impact of mass retrenchments on its employment equity plan by using it as one of several considerations when identifying who should be retrenched — this does not allow an employer to dismiss an employee on the sole ground that this was required for the employer to meet sectoral targets set by the minister, as Solidarity suggests. That said, the draft regulations issued by the minister are a shoddy piece of work, and largely incomprehensible. There is no explanation provided to help us understand what the various targets for each sector and each occupational level might mean and how they would have to be applied. The targets are given in percentage format, but they do not add up to 100% or even close to 100%, and we do not know why this is so. Do the compilers of these tables know how percentages work, or is there a secret explanation for this oddity? It is also worrying that some of the targets are clearly impossible to meet, no matter how aggressively employers pursue these targets. For example, in the table for “top management” in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector, the proposed national targets are set as follows: “African” (30.4%), “coloured” (3.5%), “Indian” (1%), and “white” (8%) – thus a combined 43%. What happened to the other 57% of the workforce? Impossible to say. Given that the current workforce profile for this sector is given as “African (9.1%), “coloured” (5.8%), “Indian” (1.2%) and “white” (83.1%) – the latter is not a typo; 29 years after the advent of democracy, a full 83% of top managers in the field remain white – it is not clear that the compilers of this document took any notice of reality and considered what could optimistically be achieved. Unfortunately, this tardiness provides much ammunition for individuals and groups who oppose any measures aimed at correcting the effects of past and ongoing injustice or deny the impact of race on systemic and entrenched inequality in the workplace and in the broader society. But, fortunately, much of this criticism has been so over the top and so misleading, and even false, that the critics have just as much egg on their faces as the drafters of the regulations. ‘Disclaimer - The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-05-23-draft-employment-equity-regulations-an-incoherent-mess-but-criticism-largely-based-on-false-claims/

Additional enhancements are available for organisations that procure from EMEs and QSEs with more than 51% ‘Black’ Ownership that are Supplier Development Beneficiaries. Paragraph 3.5 of Statement 400 states: “If a Measured Entity procures goods and services from a supplier that is: 3.5.1 A recipient of supplier development contributions from a Measured Entity under Code series 400 which has a minimum 3-year contract with the Measured Entity, the recognisable B-BBEE Procurement Spend that can be attributed to that Supplier is multiplied by a factor of 1.2; 3.5.2 A Black-owned QSE or EME which is not a Supplier Development beneficiary but that has a minimum 3-year contract with the Measured Entity, the recognisable B-BBEE Procurement Spend that can be attributed to that Supplier is multiplied by a factor of 1.2; and 3.5.3 A supplier to the Measured Entity that is at least 51% Black-owned or at least 51% Black Woman-owned utilising the Flow Through Principle, the recognisable B-BBEE Procurement Spend that can be attributed to that Supplier is multiplied by a factor of 1.2”. A reminder, a Supplier Development Beneficiary that elevates from an Enterprise Development Beneficiary allows an organisation to claim the 1 Bonus Point on offer. Enterprise & Supplier Development Services are available to guide Members on enhancements under Enterprise & Supplier Development.

A Needs Analysis is a formal, systematic process to identify and evaluate an organisation's business needs. It is specific to an individual or group of employees, customers, or B-BBEE Beneficiaries. Deficiencies identified in the outcome of such an analysis are often referred to as ‘gaps’. In other words, the difference between what is currently done and what should be done. A Needs Analysis is vital for rolling out a successful Enterprise Development or Supplier Development programme. The BEE Chamber has created a generic template that members can easily adapt to suit their circumstances. Enterprise & Supplier Development Services are available to assist members in creating a customised Needs Analysis template according to their gaps or needs.

The 5 Bonus Points for Skills Development in exchange for meeting Absorption targets can meaningfully impact an organisations overall B-BBEE Scorecard. At a B-BBEE Verification, an organisation will be measured against clause 2.1.3 of Statement 300 , which states: "Number of ‘Black’ People absorbed by the Measured and Industry Entity at the end of the Internship, Learnership and Apprenticeship programme under Paragraph 2.1.2.1" Skills Development Services are available to guide members in taking advantage of the Bonus Points on offer. Please note that the General Amended B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice requirements may differ from those of the Sector Codes.

Terence Creamer | 23 May 2023 The National Treasury has provided insight into some of the legislative changes that have been proposed in the long-awaited Public Procurement Bill, which is expected to be officially tabled before Parliament in the coming weeks. In a presentation to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance – cut short when it emerged that the Bill was still awaiting certification by the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser – acting director-general Ismail Momoniat said the changes were designed to address the fact that the current public procurement system was not only prone to corruption but was also failing to deliver services efficiently and effectively. “The public procurement system is not working,” he said bluntly, while also stressing that the proposed legislation would only provide a framework for modernisation, with the actual changes to the system, including how preferential procurement would be implemented across all spheres of government, depending largely on subsequent regulations. Currently, preferential procurement, which seeks to use procurement as an instrument of socioeconomic transformation by supporting individuals and groups that faced exclusion and discrimination under apartheid, is being governed by ‘stop gap’ regulations that came into effect on January 16. The regulations were introduced following a February 2022 Constitutional Court judgment, ruling that the Finance Minister had exceeded his powers by prescribing procurement rules to organs of State. This meant that the 2017 regulations under the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act were found to have fallen foul of with Section 217 of the Constitution. The Public Procurement Bill is expected to play a role in remedying this contravention, while also providing the basis for several other reforms aimed at improving transparency, decreasing the propensity for corruption, making greater use of automation and introducing differentiation in the ways various goods and services are procured. Value for money receives priority in the Bill, which currently comprises seven chapters, with the proposed legislation defining value for money as the primary objective of public procurement, with socioeconomic objectives to be pursued as secondary objectives. In line with the Constitutional Court ruling, public institutions will be expected to create their own procurement policies, using the parameters outlined in the legislation for the allocation of contracts and the protection or advancement of categories of people disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. Importantly, the proposed legislation departs from the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach by introducing differentiated procurement systems, whereby distinction is made between the routine procurement of goods and services by a public entity or department as opposed to the procurement of infrastructure and capital assets. Chapter 5 stipulates that the Minister must prescribe a procurement system for infrastructure and capital goods, as well as the goods and services related to it. The National Treasury indicates that these prescriptions will be outlined in regulations and will cover social infrastructure such as schools and clinics, as well as mega-projects and network infrastructure. The Bill also seeks to institutionalise so-called ‘strategic procurement’, which is defined as a shift from “transactional buying to commercial decision making”, which could imply that competitive bidding will not always be the default method of procurement. It also introduces greater flexibility with regards to the thresholds that can be used when evaluating tenders, which have hitherto been limited to either an 80/20 or 90/10 preference point system, where the weighting given to pricing in the adjudication is either 80% or 90%. The National Treasury says the choice of the preference points system will depend on what the institution is seeking to promote, and institutions are also empowered to have more than once preference point system. In other words, the Bill proposes that such systems be customised, while still advising that the price element remain above a 50% threshold. The Bill will allow for so-called set-asides to give preference, for instance, to black people, women, youth, people with disabilities, cooperatives, township or rural firms, as well as to the procurement of local goods and services. Momoniat told lawmakers that the draft Bill formed part of a broader procurement modernisation process that envisages a “more strategic, differential and flexible approach, built on technology and big data”. “The Bill lays the framework for a better and more modern procurement system, but does not provide all the answers,” he said. The Bill had been consulted in the National Economic Development and Labour Council and has been approved by Cabinet for tabling in Parliament. Momoniat believes certification by the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser to be imminent and expects that the Bill will be formally tabled within weeks. Nevertheless, several lawmakers expressed displeasure at having received a briefing only on a draft Bill rather than one that had been certified and tabled. ‘Disclaimer - The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’. https://m.engineeringnews.co.za/article/draft-procurement-legislation-points-to-shift-away-from-one-size-fits-all-model-2023-05-23

Schalk Burger | 22 May 2023 Trade union UASA and the Bureau of Market Research (BMR) have launched the UASA/BMR Employment Index, which tracks the employment performance of the economy and will be updated quarterly. The index tracks production elasticity of employment as an indicator of the strength of the relationship between gross domestic product (GDP) growth and employment creation, and the quality of labour supply to provide an indication of the growth in the value of human capital in the economically active population, among other subindices. The launch, alongside the release of UASA's 'South African Employment Report 2023', is part of UASA's new paradigm strategy, which is aimed at shifting the focus of employment creation from a focus on GDP growth to a focus on human capital. "South Africa is locked in a low-growth path, including lower income growth and fewer jobs created, and is locking the economy to a lower-growth pattern over time as the number of challenges that pull down the economy increases," said BMR research director Professor Carel van Aardt. The majority of South Africa's economically active population do not have the skills to meet the labour demand, which is clear from the proportions of skilled people and those in employment. People with a matric qualification achieved a labour absorption rate of 42.8%, while those with certificates and diplomas achieved an absorption rate of 65.2%, and those with degrees had a 73.6% absorption rate. Another price that South Africa paid for not creating enough jobs was that the unemployment rate and levels of inequality and poverty kept increasing, Van Aardt emphasised. However, South Africa is not unique in the challenges it faces in terms of low employment growth, and there are many countries facing similar problems, including in South East Asia. Some managed to overcome the challenge while others, including South Africa, continue to face low employment growth and high unemployment. Various international economists, including renowned US economist Jeffrey Sachs, have found that there was a marked difference in employment creation between developing countries that focused on higher levels of economic growth to achieve higher job creation and countries that adopted flexible labour market policies, which encouraged employers to prefer labour above capital investments, highlighted Van Aardt. Developing countries that adopted flexible labour market policies halved poverty between 2010 and 2019, while those that relied on higher economic growth did not see a similar reduction in poverty. South Africa's GDP growth levels recovered after the 2008 recession, and should have led to a matching pattern in employment growth. However, following difficult times, employers were hesitant to hire new people and invested instead in capital goods before hiring more people, he illustrated. This trend has continued for a long time, albeit with some growth in employment rates, until Covid-19 spread across the world. "South Africa requires a new paradigm when developing policies for its labour market. We cannot do the same things and expect a different outcome. Therefore, UASA has launched its new employment paradigm," said UASA president Patience Mapitsi on May 19. South Africa could use international best practices to inform its new labour market paradigm, said Van Aardt. Human capital formation emerged as an important element of employment growth, he emphasised. This can be seen in South Africa where there is a moderate mismatch in skills and employment, with some people with higher qualification levels doing less skilled jobs, sometimes with the intention of it being a temporary measure, but also because of the lack of people able to enter the labour market. Conversely, there is also a proportion of people who lack appropriate qualifications but who are employed in skilled positions, with research indicating that employers consider them to have the skills that the company requires. "These people had developed their own skills independently," Van Aardt noted. Therefore, enabling people to take responsibility for their own futures is important to encourage employment growth. This requires opening access to education. Some countries made education free up to degree level, he said. Other countries, such as Germany, took a different approach. Some German companies have offered employees the opportunity to study further rather than take a pay increase, which eventually led to those that increased their skills increasing their income much more and faster than if they had relied on income growth. "When we bring these concepts together, we get to the new paradigm. We must be focused on strengthening human and social capital, not economic growth, to strengthen employment growth. "We must focus on absorbing the unemployed to reduce poverty and distribute income. This can only be done by focusing on people." Further, demand in the labour market is out of synchronisation with labour supply, and there is an oversupply of lower skilled labour who do not have the skills to enter the labour market. "There must be a funnelling of the types of skills required in the economy from education to industry. However, labour demand continuously changes and, instead of teaching knowledge, we must teach our people to be better thinkers and to be more self-sufficient in gaining the skills they need to do the jobs they prefer. "Government's role must change from an enforcer to an enabler, and it should provide assistance to ensure people can acquire more skills and the labour market evolves to become more flexible to support more business startups in a less rigid environment," said Van Aardt. If there were sufficient skills in the labour market, this would encourage more employers to employ people, he added. However, he emphasised that a flexible labour market policy to stimulate employment creation included labour protection and employment equity as non-negotiables. "Protecting employee rights remains absolutely necessary to sustainable employment growth," he said. ‘Disclaimer - The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’. https://m.engineeringnews.co.za/article/newly-launched-employment-index-to-focus-on-human-capital-formation-2023-05-22

Kuben Chetty | 23 May 2023 Durban - The DA and civil society organisations have accused the Department of Labour of trying to amend the Employment Equity Act (EEA) to sideline Indian, coloured and white workers, while the ANC and Cosatu have dismissed the claims, saying that the official opposition is misrepresenting the proposals. DA leader John Steenhuisen, while speaking to residents in Chatsworth ahead of by-elections in the area, called for a defiance campaign that would see communities reject the amendment while the party prepares to escalate the issue to the Constitutional Court. President Cyril Ramaphosa assented to the amendment bill last month after Parliament approved it last year. On May 12, Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi published a gazette, calling for comments on the EEA sectoral targets. Companies have been given 30 days to offer their input and comment and in terms of the act, and the Department of Labour must prescribe sectoral employment demographic targets in each province for companies that have more than 50 employees. Steenhuisen on Saturday said that the amendments to the act set quotas for every workplace and in every economic sector. He described the amendment as forced quotas, saying if companies didn’t comply, they would be punished and that businesses could be fined up to 10% of their annual turnover. He said that should the act be promulgated into law, the number of Indian people working in skilled positions would be reduced. Steenhuisen said if the act stood, businesses would be driven into bankruptcy through fines and punishment from the government, that young people would emigrate and skills would leave the country. “The ANC is introducing a law that will ban entire groups of South Africans from working in specific areas or sectors. “This race law, in the year 2023, is effectively saying that people with certain skin colours do not belong in certain areas,” Steenhuisen said. ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri accused the DA of propaganda. Bhengu-Motsiri said the party was intent on a non-racial society. “Such a policy would be inconsistent with the entire ethos of the ANC, particularly the pursuit of the National Democratic Revolution, which seeks to democratise our society and all spheres of the economy, including the labour market. “The ANC-led liberation movement has always been consistent in its pursuit of a non-racial and just society. Building a non-racial labour market is a fundamental aspect of the National Democratic Revolution.” Cosatu’s Sizwe Pamla said they supported the amendment as there had been a lack of appetite to comply with the act and many employers had had discussions on whether it was still necessary to have discussions on employment equity. IFP President Velinkosini Hlabisa said the party was still looking to drive legislation to force companies to ensure that South Africans were the majority employed in the country. “The ANC wants to be seen taking a hardline stance without taking a stance on the real issues affecting the country.” Hlabisa said they had proposed an 80:20 ratio – 80% South African and 20% foreign national and the bill would not apply to skills that were scarce in the country, but was mainly focused on people with lower-skilled jobs. ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said while they supported economic transformation, they were concerned that the amendment may exclude the marginalised. “South Africa’s experience over the past few decades has shown that this cannot be achieved through strict numerical targets set by the draft Employment Equity regulations. “ActionSA is concerned that the strict EEA targets will have the unintended consequence of excluding people who were previously disadvantaged from becoming employed.” Non-profit organisation Sakeliga said it was opposed to state interference in private enterprises and its lawyers had written to Nxesi, warning him that his regulations on sectoral targets in the workplace and the accompanying process for public participation were incoherent and incomprehensible and should be withdrawn. “Sakeliga is already busy preparing court papers to have the amended act reviewed and the most objectionable parts of it set aside. The draft regulations in terms of the act are unintelligible and incoherent,” the organisation said. Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said the issue of employment equity had been gradually creeping into election campaigns and even was an issue for the DA at its policy conference. “The ANC is taking a hardline position to make it appear to the majority that they are on their side. “This is a boutique political issue because there are no jobs. The fight should be focused on the high unemployment and preventing companies from leaving the country.” Another analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said the act was meant to deal with the transformation of the economy, but it had not made a dent in society. “Creating employment is critical. This is something that is politically seductive to deal with rather than deal with the bigger issues but the majority of people will not benefit from amendments to the act,” Seepe said. ‘Disclaimer - The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’. https://www.iol.co.za/mercury/news/debate-on-employment-equity-amendment-act-rages-on-legal-challenge-looming-efda76a0-bbca-4ba3-88fb-f3f026949c62

Baldwin Ndaba | 20 May 2023 Johannesburg - Labour unions and political parties have blamed load shedding for the growing number of unemployed people in the country and urged the government to create job opportunities urgently. The call came after Stats SA revealed in its Quarterly Labour Force Survey that unemployment has grown from 32.7% to 32.9 in the first quarter of this year. The report has revealed that Gauteng currently has 582 000 discouraged job seekers, while unemployment currently stands at 2 604 000. Commenting on the survey, Gauteng’s DA spokesperson on economic development, Nicola du Plessis, said the current load shedding crisis has further impacted this as many businesses could not afford to procure generators and solar panels to continue trading during load shedding. Du Plessis said recently the MEC for Economic Development, Tasneem Motara, revealed that over 300 000 job opportunities had been lost during 2022 due to the continuous rolling blackouts. “For a long time, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been calling on the Premier to procure electricity from Independent Power Producers (IPP) in order to mitigate the risks of load shedding and over-reliance on Eskom. “If the provincial government, under the leadership of Premier Lesufi, is serious about creating the correct environment for investment, they would ensure that all job targets are met and that all entities meant to assist small businesses fulfil their mandate,” she said. While the increase in unemployment was widespread in the country, the North West province was the worst affected. The DA in the North West added the ANC was to blame for the growth of unemployment, saying it was due to decades of failed ANC governance, corruption, fraud, policy uncertainty, cadre deployment and load shedding which has collapsed North West, where basic service delivery was erratic at best. DA provincial leader Leon Basson said this sustained programme of destruction by the ANC has now yielded the fruits of their nefarious labour – mass unemployment of 54% as per the expanded definition, the highest in South Africa. “More people in the North West are unemployed than those who have a job. More than a million persons in the North West are now left unemployed, desperate and destitute. Only 877 000 individuals have the dignity that comes with having a job, earning a salary, and taking care of their families. “This is a socio-economic, humanitarian crisis that requires urgent intervention to restore governance, deliver basic services, attract investment that will result in economic development, growth, and job creation,” Basson said. Cosatu also blamed the ANC for the continuous load shedding, saying the governing party must act with speed to act on it. Cosatu’s national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the federation was deeply worried that what they hoped was momentum in reducing unemployment over the course of 2022, that this initial progress may be lost with the current rampant levels of load shedding suffocating the economy even further in 2023. “The government’s failure to fix load shedding and drive economic recovery is reprehensible because, behind these numbers, there are struggling families and starving people. “The latest numbers show that as of 2022, about 18,2 million South Africans live in extreme poverty. “This is an unsustainable crisis, and something drastic is needed to provide for the possibility to change the outcomes of our economic development trajectory. So far, there is no clear strategy presented by the government to help stimulate growth and regenerate our economy. “The same failing macroeconomic policy framework remains intact despite the rhetoric about the centrality of job creation and the transformation of the economy by the government,” Pamla said. He said it is more critical for government to move with speed to fix the obstacles hindering economic growth to ramp up Eskom’s maintenance programme and efforts to bring on board new generation capacity. Pamla also said more must to be done to secure the railway network and modernise the ports, which are key to ensuring mining, manufacturing, and agricultural products reach their destinations, and workers can get to work on time. “Interventions are urgently needed to ensure local government and public service departments provide the services that the economy needs to grow. The deterioration of infrastructure and revolving door leadership in many of our big and small municipalities is embarrassing and alarming. To make a dent in unemployment and close the growing inequality, we need an activist government and a democratic developmental state that is capable of intervening effectively to transform economic relations.” he said. ‘Disclaimer - The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’. https://www.iol.co.za/saturday-star/news/government-urged-to-fix-load-shedding-in-order-to-address-rising-unemployment-a472ecc9-2882-4c6f-b642-74391be44df0

Kizito Okechukwu | 22 May 2023 Across the world, some 225 million people working for start-ups and small, micro and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) lost their jobs during/post-Covid -19. The impact of this also resulted in many of these businesses shutting their doors for good. Fast forward to post-Covid-19. We are now dealing with geo-political tensions, a high risk of global inflation and, for South Africans, we have an unreliable and unpredictable energy supply, which is further crippling business operations, with the agricultural and industrial sectors being some of the hardest hit. Yes, many businesses have turned to installing alternative sources of power for their business, such as generators and solar solutions, etc. Yet, this too can be a very expensive exercise due to an increased cost of energy, such as diesel, resulting in many being unable to sustain operations and have laid down workers in order to keep the business afloat. Although the government announced incentives to support households and businesses installing alternative sources of power, the reality is that this might not be enough for the smaller guys. Just a month ago, I was honoured to be one of the ecosystem stakeholders invited to meet President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. During this unique engagement, the President acknowledged the difficulty faced by SMMEs during this period and assured us that the government is doing all it can to ensure that load shedding is a thing of the past. The owner of a small business - a bakery in Soweto, to be exact - was in the audience and lamented about the challenges faced by his business, where load shedding has disrupted his operations, forcing him to lay-off 12 young employees. This is now a growing trend, and it’s estimated that job losses from this year alone due to load shedding could be more than 500 000. So how can incubators and accelerators help? Just to get new, up-and-coming SMME readers in the know, accelerators emerged in the early 2000s with the launch of Y Combinator in the US, with many more mushrooming afterwards. Accelerators are generally for-profit and often hold equity in the start-up firms that they support. Our company, 22 On Sloane, was honoured to have received the Ecosystem Facilitator and Champion of the Year award from the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and the Minister of Small Business Development, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams. There are a few more institutions such as ours in the country, which include the Small Enterprise Development Agency, the Innovation Hub in Pretoria, the Innovation City in Cape Town and many others. These institutions aim to support start-ups and small businesses with capacity-building programmes, where businesses are guided on learnings and lessons to start and grow their business, including how to withstand the tough economic situations we currently face. Some of these incubators also support start-ups with rental subsidies to lessen their burden on rental costs, which is usually significantly lower than what they would have paid in a commercial property. This will also include access to other infrastructure and even a 24-hour power supply, as most of these have alternative energy sources. The incubators and accelerators also have access to various corporates, which can support smaller businesses to access more markets in their established supply chains, thereby boosting their revenue and weathering the economic storm. Most incubators and accelerators also have access to investor networks and even grants from local and international organisations that could allow SMMEs to keep afloat instead of laying off workers. It goes without saying that it is a tough and ‘dark’ economic time right now, but it’s also a time to build resilient entrepreneurs who can withstand threatening times. So, more attention should be paid to businesses that manage their resources efficiently and think of innovative ways to survive. But it’s easier said than done, even incubators and accelerators, such as ours, face these same challenges, but we all must work together to support each other as much as we can and work towards the greater good of economic sustainability. Let’s look on the ‘bright’ side and remain positive. Kizito Okechukwu is the Executive Head of 22 On Sloane and co-Chair of the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) Africa. ‘Disclaimer - The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the BEE CHAMBER’. https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/entrepreneurs/smmes-must-leverage-incubators-accelerators-during-these-tough-economic-times-44b9dab9-242a-422b-864e-ae610d355428