CDE response to the proposed changes to the B-BBEE Codes
- The Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) regards the achievement of the goals of broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) as vital to the country’s future. We understand these goals to be an economy in which everyone can succeed irrespective of their race or gender, and in which legacies of historical discrimination are actively undone.
- While the achievement of the goals of B-BBEE is vital to the country’s future, the proposed amendments to the Codes will destabilise the structure of existing empowerment policies, impose significant new costs on businesses that have already adapted to current rules, and reduce investment by increasing policy uncertainty.
- CDE has submitted a formal response to the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition calling for the immediate withdrawal of its proposed amendments to the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice.
- The proposed amendments amount to a massive bet on the idea of a Transformation Fund, a proposal whose details have not even been made public. They will destabilise the structure of existing empowerment policies, impose significant new costs on businesses that have already adapted to current rules, and reduce investment by increasing policy uncertainty.
- It is CDE’s view that the current proposals should be shelved until such time as a proper review of B-BBEE is undertaken.
- When CDE made its submission in response to the first Transformation Fund concept document in May 2025, we issued a call for a comprehensive, independent review of South Africa’s transformation policies to assess their effectiveness and costs.
- This review should be led by an independent panel, including economists, legal experts, business leaders, civil society representatives and especially black-owned enterprises affected by current mechanisms. It should evaluate which aspects of B-BBEE have succeeded and which have failed, and at what cost, using 20 years of available data. The goal should be to build a new consensus promoting inclusive growth, accountability, and tangible benefits for black and in particular disadvantaged South Africans.
