Black Business Council vice-president, Gregory Mofokeng. Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi
Banks must come to the party amid the slow pace of transformation, which was dictated by those who owned the economy and assets, Black Business Council (BBC) vice-president Gregory Mofokeng said yesterday.
Mofokeng was speaking during a panel discussion at the launch of the second 2022 Sanlam Gauge report held yesterday.
The panel speakers included information and communications technology (ICT) sector council chairperson Andile Tlhoaele and financial sector transformation council chief executive, Pumla Ncapayi.
“If I own a company, I decide whom to sell it to at what price. What do black people own to transform the country? Black people and the government are blamed for the lack of transformation. The people who decide whom to sell to are the owners of the assets,” he said.
Mofokeng said when the assets were here, the banks needed to come to the party and fund these companies.
“That is what we keep hammering to our government. When we go to the banks, they tell us this is the depositor’s money, and we can’t take a risk with you black people. The government must take a risk on us, and fund us so that we can acquire these assets,” he said.
Mofokeng lambasted the government, saying it had come up with wonderful legislation but forgot to come up with a funding model for the sector.
“The government is not serious; how do you make a law and create an institution and not bother yourself about how that institution is going to be funded? When the players come to propose a funding model, you are the one who opposes. It’s a problem,” he said.
Ncapayi said to address the universal challenges that were faced by the various sectors was to ensure that there was a legally binding enforceable framework.
“The legislation is there. It is voluntary in nature, and if you do an assessment to determine the pace of the transformation in the sector for those who do not meet the targets continuously is to name and shame,” she said.
Ncapayi said one of the key challenges that contributed to the failure of B-BEE was the silo approach to policy implementation.
“What is the role of regulatory boards if these targets have not been met? There is a focus of issuing licences without looking at the blind sport on whether those companies have fed well in terms of their contributions towards transformation,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Sanlam Gauge report released yesterday, which measures economic transformation in South Africa, based on the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) scores of 10336 companies, found that the biggest challenge to the B-BBEE Advisory Council was management control, which achieved only 55.9 percent of the target in the Gauge report with enterprise & supplier development next worst at 64.5 percent.
“Surveys conducted by sector councils into their industries repeatedly confirm that management control is the worst performing element.
“The core problem is reflected by the Commission for Employment Equity in its latest workplace transformation report, which found that more than a quarter of private sector employers are not investing in meaningful training and development, and more than 20 percent do not have clear succession plans for the advancement of African, coloured and female employees to top, senior and middle-management levels, the report said.
White males accounted for 63.2 percent in top management positions, down from 64.7 percent a year earlier, Africans occupied 17 percent compared with 15.8 percent in 2020; Indians accounted for 10.9 percent from 10.6 percent in 2020; and coloured people made up 5.9 percent from 5.7 percent in 2020.
The report revealed that the average scorecard weighting for socio-economic development was small, averaging 6.4 points across sectors – followed by skills development (20) and management control (20.6).
While B-BBEE deals had a positive effect on South Africa’s transformation objectives, some stakeholders believed that the implementation of these transactions had become challenging. the report found.
BUSINESS REPORT