The codes are coming!

B-BBEE Transport Sector Codes

SOUTH AFRICA: Ambitions to gazette Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Codes for the transport sector by March next year mean that the maritime industry should anticipate the introduction of sub-sector codes without any transition phase.

After an interrupted process that began back in 2009 with the gazetting of the transport sector codes, the sub-sectors are being asked to revisit the process to align the codes in collaboration with the new Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Transport Sector Council (Council) which was launched in May this year.

“The urgent task of the Council includes ensuring that as a sector we have Integrated Transport Sector B-BBEE Codes to address acute transformation challenges experienced in the main within the aviation, road freight and maritime sectors as well as to create a tool to bring awareness and address the skills shortage in ensuring development of Black professionals,” said the Minister of Transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga, during the Department of Transport’s (DoT) Budget vote in May this year.

Speaking at a recent hybrid meeting to launch the new process, chairperson of the Council, Kgomotso Selokane, noted the need for collaboration amongst stakeholders in the maritime sector to ensure alignment.

Imploring stakeholders to join the working groups, she warned; “If you are not going to be a part of the decision-making process, we will make these decisions on your behalf”.

The Council is required by the B-BBEE Act to report progress to the Presidential B-BBEE Advisory Council and the B-BBEE Commission on an annual basis and will therefore make it mandatory for all State Owned Companies to provide updated information every year for the purpose of tracking progress as well as deciding on future updates within the Codes.

The Council has already identified a number of resolutions that will guide the process. These include:

An increase in Black ownership to 40 per cent.
An increase in Black women ownership to 20 per cent.
An increase in Board voting of Black people to 65 per cent.
An increase in Board voting of Black women to 40 per cent.
Additional bonus points for first time board appointments, women, youth and people living with disabilities.
The mandatory requirement to include all enterprise development beneficiaries within the supply chain.
The mandatory contribution to a Targeted Integrated Transport Sector Enterprise and Supplier Development Fund that will benefit Black owned businesses within the transport sector.

In addition to these, the Council has resolved to address the mandatory compliance of all organs of State and public entities by setting 100 per cent targets for the issuing of licences, concessions, permits or other authorisations for economic activity within their control. According to the slides all of these should only be issued to entities with a Level 3 or above scoring.

Selokane, however, also intimated that the Council would be pushing to include a Black ownership criteria of 51 per cent.

She added that stakeholder engagements in the form of working groups and masterclasses would commence immediately to ensure that ambitious timelines could be met.