South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BB-BEE) programme has lost momentum over the past few years, with a new report showing that progress across several key transformation indicators has largely stalled since 2020.
The findings were presented by BB-BEE Commissioner Tshediso Matona during the launch of the Research Report on South Africa’s Transformation Landscape (2013–2023) at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in Sandton.
The report analysed 28,131 BB-BEE certificates issued between 2013 and 2023 by 56 accredited verification agencies, providing one of the most comprehensive assessments of corporate transformation trends over the past decade.
BB-BEE remains one of South Africa’s primary policy tools for addressing historical economic inequalities by encouraging greater participation of black South Africans in the economy through ownership, management, skills development, enterprise support and community investment.
Mixed performance across transformation indicators
The report found that Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) continued to achieve the strongest results among the five scorecard elements, followed by ownership.
However, progress in other areas was far less encouraging.
Skills development showed little improvement compared with 2014 levels, while management control recorded weaker performance than nearly a decade ago. Socio-economic development received the lowest overall scores among the five measurement categories.
The BB-BEE scorecard assesses businesses across five key areas:
- Ownership
- Management control
- Skills development
- Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD)
- Socio-economic development
Together, these indicators measure how companies contribute to economic transformation and broader participation of historically disadvantaged groups within South Africa’s economy.
Economic challenges blamed for slower progress
Responding to questions about why transformation has slowed since 2020, Commissioner Matona pointed to South Africa’s prolonged economic stagnation and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He argued that many businesses shifted their focus towards financial survival during difficult economic conditions, reducing investment in long-term transformation initiatives such as employee training and skills development.
According to Matona, economic growth and transformation should not be viewed as competing priorities.
Instead, he believes a more inclusive economy has the potential to stimulate stronger economic growth, while sustained economic expansion would also enable businesses to invest more in transformation programmes.
The report also highlighted the historical role of corporate social investment initiatives, noting that many large companies introduced community development programmes following the 1976 student uprising. In many rural communities, these projects provided essential services such as schools and healthcare facilities where government support was limited.
The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act was originally introduced in 2003 and amended in 2013 to accelerate economic transformation and expand the participation of black South Africans in the mainstream economy.
The latest findings suggest that while some aspects of BB-BEE continue to show progress, maintaining momentum will likely depend on stronger economic growth and renewed corporate investment in transformation initiatives.
Source: BusinessTech.