Legislation
On 9 February, 2007, the first BEE Codes of Good Practice was gazetted by the South-African Government. This newest release of the Codes is also known as Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment or B-BBEE
This included the following Codes:
- Code 100 – Ownership
- Code 200 – Management & Control
- Code 300 – Employment Equity
- Code 400 – Skills Development
- Code 500 – Preferential Procurement
- Code 600 – Enterprise Development
- Code 700 – Socioeconomic development
- Codes 800 - 807 - Qualifying Small Enterprises
The following sector scorecards have also been gazetted (in terms of section 12):
- Financial Sector Scorecard
- Construction Sector Scorecard
- Tourism Sector Code
Also gazetted were general guidelines and definitions, among which, the definition of the beneficiaries of BEE. The definition is the same as that of the Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003 which states that "black people" is a generic term which means Black Africans, Coloureds and Indians and included provisions to ensure that they must have been South African citizens prior to 1994. The fact that Chinese individuals (some of whom were classified as Coloureds under Apartheid, others as honorary white), who were also submitted to legal discrimination prior to 1990 (but exempt from the Group Areas Act as of 1984 when the Group Areas Amendment Act was promulgated), have been excluded as beneficiaries of black empowerment, has led to a renewed media debate regarding the definition of “black” in current legislation. As of 2008, Chinese people have been reclassified as "black" after the Chinese Association of South Africa took the South African government to court and won.
The BEE legislation is supported and functions in conjunction with various other forms of Legislation, including the Employment Equity Act, Skills Development Act, Preferential Procurement Framework and others.
The legislation was developed through numerous task teams and have taken more than 3 years to be gazetted since the first Act (December 2003) and the first Codes of Good Practice released in November 2005 which addressed Statement 100 and 200. Subsequent Codes were released in December 2006 addressing Codes 300 to 700. Based on public and stakeholder comments, the final codes were adjusted and gazetted.
Read more about this topic: Black Economic Empowerment
Famous quotes containing the word legislation:
“The conservative assumes sickness as a necessity, and his social frame is a hospital, his total legislation is for the present distress, a universe in slippers and flannels, with bib and papspoon, swallowing pills and herb-tea.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“No legislation can suppress nature; all life rushes to reproduction; our procreative faculties are matured early, while passion is strong, and judgment and self-restraint weak. We cannot alter this, but we can alter what is conventional. We can refuse to brand an act of nature as a crime, and to impute to vice what is due to ignorance.”
—Tennessee Claflin (1846–1923)
“Being offended is the natural consequence of leaving one’s home. I do not like after- shave lotion, adults who roller-skate, children who speak French, or anyone who is unduly tan. I do not, however, go around enacting legislation and putting up signs.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)