Lack of consistency muddies BEE waters

The appointment of a Broad- Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) ombudsman or adjudicator is as important as the process of empowerment and transformation itself. This is according to Keith Levenstein, CEO of EconoBEE, who has called on the Department of Trade and Industry and the BEE Councils to implement a B-BBEE ombudsman or adjudicator without delay. “We need an independent person who can make rulings that are binding on everyone. At the moment we have situations arising where even though the BEE Codes are excellent, every verification agency has a different interpretation of those very codes resulting in huge point differences.” With only about 20 accredited agencies in the country, Levenstein said there was on some levels a serious lack of understanding of the various codes. “Every consultant and verification agency has a different viewpoint and interpretation resulting in confusion. The process of empowerment and transformation is one that is extremely important, but it is just as important to have one standard.” Levenstein said the lack of guidance had resulted in many businesses being negatively affected. “One agency will consider a business to be Level 4 compliant and the next one will walk in and consider it to be at Level 8. You ask ten different people to interpret the BEE Codes and you will get ten different answers. We believe an ombudsman will bring an end to this as we need to have standard interpretations and rulings.” Levenstein says neither the DTI nor Sanas is giving guidance on how the various codes should be interpreted. “The appeal process setup by Sanas is flawed as an appeal to a verification agency is handled by the agency itself. It has reached the stage where B-BBEE scorecards have less credibility now than in previous years. This causes unhappiness and demotivation for the very companies that should be involved in implementing B-BBEE.” According to Levenstein, an adjudicator will give rulings on interpretations that are legally binding on all verification agencies, but will also be able to give advice on contentious issues before companies implement actions that may turn out to be worthless in terms of points. “We will be officially writing to the DTI to ask for the appointment of an ombudsman in the coming weeks,” said Levenstein.