Codes to be finalised in July

By Itumeleng Mogaki for KPMG
Johannesburg, 10 Apr 2006

The Department of Trade and Industry`s (DTI`s) Codes of Good Practice, which are expected to be closely aligned with that of the ICT black economic empowerment (BEE) charter, will be completed in July.

DTI BEE director Jeffery Ndumo made this announcement on Friday at the launch of audit, tax and advisory services firm KPMG`s BEE survey, in Johannesburg.

He said the codes will be submitted to Cabinet for approval and, thereafter, will be gazetted.

"We want to be certain that the codes are finalised, and they are recognised as the law of the land."

He said the alignment of the codes with that of the rest of the charter codes is significant, as it would not make sense to have conflicting charters.

"We do not want to have a situation where the charters are misaligned. We are going to make sure all the charters are aligned and that they enjoy similar interests to the DTI codes."

Transformation level

The BEE survey will reveal the level of transformation within business in SA and establish a baseline from which to track the next 10 years of transformation, said KPMG.

The annual survey will be conducted using an electronic questionnaire and interviews. The first results will be available in June.

Sandile Hlophe, associate director of KPMG, said the results of the survey would come at the right time as the DTI expects to complete its codes around mid-2006.

"The survey seeks to ascertain best practice trends related to BEE governance in relation to the board of directors, executive committee and business units, and exploration of the barriers that inhibit successful BEE implementation will be conducted," said Hlophe.

He said all listed companies, multinationals, public sector and State-owned enterprises, as well as a sample of medium and small enterprises, will be included in the survey.

Hlophe said the survey results would reveal the current level of BEE compliance by local businesses and recommend an approach to BEE strategy, formulation and implementation.

"We certainly look forward to KPMG`s survey [results] and hope it will help in the implementation of BEE codes," said Ndumo.