BEE path is paved with good intentions but comes to a dead end
From obvious if illegal fronting to meaning well but achieving nothing, black empowerment needs to be better managed
I recently came across a “transformed” 51% black-owned company that flashed its level 2 broad-based BEE (B-BBEE) credentials to all and sundry as it stood at the front of the tender line, successfully winning and retaining contracts with large corporations it did business with prior to its “transformation”.
I say “transformed” because on closer investigation the company’s status was found to come from a 51% shareholding held by a “creatively” registered trust for black employees of the business. The 49% white shareholders and directors were trustees of the trust, while the black employees, as beneficiaries, had neither veto rights nor any say in the running of the business or decision-making of the trust. ..
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