Reaction to B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice amendments has been mixed.

This is the view of Anton Baumann, director of Transcend Capital. Baumann will present “BBBEE and how it will impact your business,” at the annual South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) Congress, which takes place from 14 to 16 October in Durban.

Some have welcomed the developments. Says Baumann: “The changes address some of the problems contained in the old framework, but white-owned businesses might feel that the compliance requirements have been made more onerous and there is pressure to do more.” Baumann says the 2007 Code and the amended Code, which came into effect on 1 May 2015, were two fundamentally different pieces of legislation.

“Despite higher compliance requirements, many companies are willing to take a proactive role,” he says. “Initiatives to implement Code requirements should not be seen as a cost, but rather as an investment into the growth of the company with a measurable return on investment. Business must see the commercial drivers within the Code,” he suggests.

According to Baumann, the revised Codes are far more difficult to comply with, as it forces companies to comply with certain priority elements, which they’ve tended to put on hold.

He says that while companies may have competed on product, price and BEE compliance, for many businesses pure BEE compliance is no longer a point of differentiation.

Baumann believes that companies must leave the realm of BEE compliance and identify the commercial drivers behind the BEE scorecard. “Where there is price and product parity, B-BBEE compliance becomes very important, and if a company deals with the Government, compliance is of the utmost importance.”

The Enterprise and Supplier Development Scorecard provides the incentives and has a higher weighting of 27 points, compared with the previous 20 points on the Scorecard.

While compliance may not be as important for businesses that served international clients exclusively, its licence to operate would be tied into compliance requirements, he explains.