M Mpahlwa on accreditation of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) verification agencies

[I Robot]

Announcement of accreditation of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) verification agencies

9 February 2009

9 February 2009 marks the second anniversary of the Department of Trade and Industry's (the DTI) gazetting of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) codes of good practice. As we celebrate this momentous achievement, a number of strategic milestones in the implementation of B-BBEE should also be acknowledged. These include, but are not limited to, the gazetting of the B-BBEE Verification Manual and the B-BBEE information technology (IT) portal.

There is general recognition that substantial progress has been made to advance empowerment at all levels. We must continue to build on that.

As an institutional mechanism for the measurement of B-BBEE progress, the codes also provide guidance on and a framework for the accreditation of BEE verification agencies (VAs), which are integral to the monitoring of B-BBEE. In this regard DTI's collaboration and recognition of the association of verification agencies will ensure those that are accredited adhere to the latter and spirit of the codes in measuring B-BBEE.

Why the accreditation of B-BEE VAs?

It is important to note that the overall aim of accreditation is to instil confidence in entities that subject themselves to B-BEE verification, and establish a measurement of excellence against which agencies should strive, in terms of compliance with B-BEE criteria. Furthermore, this process serves to ensure the credibility, consistency and competence of the verification industry.

Accreditation of VAs

The DTI has made significant progress in accelerating the process of accrediting VAs. At present, 80 VAs have applied for accreditation. All the applicants are currently at various stages of the accreditation process, which entails document review, pre-assessment and final assessment.

Final assessments are still in progress and most of the VAs assessed have cleared their non-conformances. This is an ongoing process, which will eventually result in the accreditation of all VAs.

Today, as the DTI, we are excited to announce the first accredited BEE VAs in our economy. It should be noted that this is merely the first of many announcements to come. The DTI will continue to acknowledge VAs as they obtain accreditation.

In the interest of harmonising verification practices and ensuring consistent technical competence, all legal entities performing verification should undergo accreditation.

The names of the verification agencies that have successfully completed the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) accreditation process are:

* BEE empowered,
* BEE matrix,
* BEE verification agency,
* DRGSiyaya,
* Emex trust,
* Empowerdex,
* Empowerlogic,
* Honeycomb,
* National Empowerment Rating Agency (NERA) – Gauteng,
* NERA – KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and
* NERA Western Cape.

The accredited verification agencies will submit information underlying each verification certificate to the DTI.

Full details are available on the websites of SANAS – http://www.sanas.co.za - and the DTI – http://www.thedti.gov.za - which will be continuously updated as other verification agencies successfully complete the accreditation process.

Mandisi Mpahlwa, MP
The Minister of Trade and Industry

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[Dave A]

It only took two years to get the first VAs through

[I Robot]

Trade and Industry awards certificates to Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Verificati

The dti - SANAS awards certificates to first BEE Verification Agencies

12 February 2009

The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) together with the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) today awarded certificates to the country’s first Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Verification Agencies in Pretoria.

The agencies that acquired B-BBEE accreditation status include:
1. BEE Empowered,
2. BEE Matrix,
3. BEE Verification Agency,
4. DRGSiyaya,
5. Emex Trust,
6. Empowerdex,
7. Empowerlogic,
8. Honeycomb,
9. National Empowerment Rating Agency (NERA) – Gauteng,
10. NERA – KwaZulu-Natal (KZN); and
11. NERA – Western Cape.

Emex Trustee, Mella Msiza, said the company had learned a great deal from the process as a BEE scorecard and supplier verification agency. “As a new company, we are excited that we were afforded an equal opportunity to acquire skills that would enable us to make a livelihood and also empower our communities, by transferring this skill to them. And we are now more competitive, as opposed to when we started. We now meet the standards set by SANAS,” acknowledged Msiza.

The occasion was viewed as monumental and historic by the dti and SANAS alike, as it marks the start of a fundamental change in the history of B-BBEE verification. The overall aim of accreditation is to instil confidence in entities that subject themselves to B-BBEE verification, and establish a measurement of excellence against which agencies should strive, in terms of compliance with B-BBEE criteria.

Nomonde Mesatywa, Chief Director of BEE at the dti, said that the awarding of certificates was another fundamental milestone in the evolution of BEE, as the eleven companies were the first group of Verification Agencies (VAs) to have fulfilled all the accreditation requirements.

“We congratulate these companies and trust that this will give credence to the verification process. This represents the beginning of a phase in BEE that will be marked by credibility, reliability, impartiality and the harmonisation of policies, procedures, guidelines, and standards, thus creating a credible and regulated environment for measuring, monitoring and evaluating B-BBEE compliance,” said Mesatywa.

She further stated that this was an ongoing process, which would be refined; in order to ensure that accreditation of other agencies was expedited.

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[Yvonne]

Dave,

Now that the verification agencies have been verified, if our business turnover is beneath the five million turnover, and we qualify as an Exempt Micro Enterprise (EME) with an automatic BEE recognition of:
B.E.E. Status: Level 4
BEE Recognition: 100%
B.E.E. Category: EME

Do you know if this is this only recognised if we have purchased a certificate from one of the accredited verification agencies?

Or can we request our supplies to recognise our rating based on a letter only from our company, together with a letter of confirmation from our auditors?

Thanks
Yvonne

[Dave A]

Hi Yvonne,

Doing this via the BEE section of the DTI website is fairly painless. Businesses with a turnover under R5 million can read and register here and you'll get a template letter for your auditor to sign off and technically that does the trick.

However, I've had client companies nitpick by querying the date of last audit being more than a year old, a bit irritating particularly at this time of year.

The solution is to take the extra step of registering on the BEE site for a nominal fee (R100.00 from memory) with this auditor's letter which will get you a certificate from the DTI and a listing on the DTI website - and I've never had a client query one of those

I hope that helps.

[Yvonne]

Done and Dusted, thank you so much, it was far easier than I had imagined.

Yvonne