Quote Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
I had a long discussion with a "BEE verification agency" a few weeks ago. The SANAS delay in awarding accreditation has been a most unexpected and inconvenient challenge for those who have committed themselves to this cash cow being the providor of their financial future.

So it seems they have agreed amongst themselves that in the interim those who have joined ABVA may be deemed as "accredited" and considered to satisfy the requirements of the legislation. That this convenient arrangement would seem unsupported by law seems trivial compared to the importance of getting the income flowing. After all, they need to be able to put bread on the table and BMWs in the garage.
I sent the above email to Keith Levenstein of econobee who has taken ABSA, Empowerdex, and EMEX to the competition board, and according to Keith, "The next step is for the Competition Commission to decide if there is sufficient reason to investigate further and then proceed with a prosecution."

In the meantime, I received a revised email from the same company stating...


BEE EXEMPTION CERTIFICATES
CORRECTION ON PREVIOUS E-MAIL: 5 December 2007
Dear Business Owner
When you apply for a BEE Exemption Certificate please take note that members of ABVA or Verification Agencies that have applied to SANAS for accreditation can issue this certificate. Alternatively a letter from your accountants stating that your turnover is less than R5 million per annum will also give you a procurement recognition level of 65%.

This is still not 100% correct but they are getting there...



So maybe these rating agencies are feeding off our ignorance and charging these ridiculous fees because of it.