Alarming drop in overall black ownership
Just 25% of state organs submitted broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) compliance reports in 2021, leading the B-BBEE Commission to conclude that government is failing to comply with its own empowerment policies.
The commission reveals in its National Status and Trends on B-BBEE Transformation Report for 2021 that of approximately 326 organs of state, 244 failed to submit compliance reports.
Of those that did meet the submission deadline, 37% were found to be non-compliant with the empowerment policies.
As a result, the commission believes there is no gate-keeping by organs of state to drive entities to be B-BBEE-compliant.
Moneyweb reports that the private sector’s poor reporting patterns during the period are just as worrying for the commission, which notes that only 140 – about 40% – of 324 JSE-listed companies submitted their annual reports to the commission, which enables it to conduct B-BBEE compliance checks.
Analysis of the data the commission did receive reveals that overall black ownership across all entities dropped to 29.5% in 2021 (2020: 31%), despite average black ownership within JSE-listed companies increasing by 11% (to 39%).
While 3% of listed companies were fully black-owned in 2019, this was found to no longer be the case in 2020 or 2021 – when none qualified as fully black-owned.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
