Organisers of a joint broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) seminar on compliance and fronting – Innoven Consulting and Axidex – have categorically denied that the purpose of the now cancelled seminar was to inform people on how to front and circumvent the B-BBEE Code of Conduct regulations.
FTW Online reported yesterday (Tuesday) that the B-BBEE Commission had ruled that the organisers of the seminar - titled ‘Fronting has a legal zone, let us show you where it is’ - had to cancel the event, planned for 26 October in Gauteng, and immediately refund all individuals that had registered.
Acting commissioner for the B-BBEE Commission, Zodwa Ntuli, said that an investigation had been launched into the seminar after “concerned members of the public” had alerted her to the seminar outlines which promised to “give pointers on how to safely practise fronting”.
However, Innoven Consulting’s Michelle Laarman said that the organisers had used an aggressive style of marketing with the intention of attracting people to attend the seminar and that through this, the message and therefore the purpose of the seminar, had been lost.
The message that came across was that the seminar’s purpose was to show how to circumvent the B-BBEE codes with regard to compliance, thus contravening the BBBEE codes and therefore the laws of the country. “We would like to unequivocally state that this was not the intention, nor the purpose, of the seminar,” she said.
According to Laarman, the intention was in fact to the contrary. “We intended to have a discussion on what fronting is and why this is against the law as per legislation; teach businesses what the rules are and how to apply them as well as inform them of the legal consequences of fronting and attempting to loophole the BBBEE legislation,” she pointed out.
She said that the organisers had apologised “unreservedly for the confusion, hurt or suffering we may have caused”.
“We recognise and support the need for transformation in our country, and in so doing strive to implement the policies that have been put in place to enforce it,” Laarman commented, adding that the organisers were “open and willing” to engage further with any interested parties regarding this matter.
