YCLSA calls for the review and monitoring of BEE rating agencies

The Young Communist League of South Africa (uFasimba) is outraged by the Employment Equity Report released by the Minister of Labour yesterday which shows that the leadership and ownership of the economy remains in white hands. This is disgusting and calls for sterner action on the part of government to ensure that black people have a stake in the ownership of the economy. The fact that 61% of directors and managers of companies are white compared with only 9% of black men, cannot be allowed to continue.

We have always raised concern on the capacity of government institutions to monitor the transformation progress of private companies, and the collusion between BEE rating companies and the private sector in manipulating ownership patterns and averting regulations in order to keep the economic ownership of this country in white hands.

This happens in the course of deepening poverty levels, widening inequalities between high white income earners and low paid black workers. This is a serious perpetuation of Apartheid patterns of ownership of the economy. We are also disgusted and want to shame "black directors" in some of the white companies for having kept quiet and pocketed their director's fees whilst "white companies" continue to pocket massive profits and pay workers as little as possible.

Rating Agencies have failed us in monitoring EE Policy

We would also like government to strongly consider reviewing the work that is done by BEE rating agencies. We believe that instead of assisting government to monitor Affirmative Action implementation, they have effectively assisted private companies to avert regulations. They have effectively become part of the problem, instead of being the solutions. It is also very disgusting that some of these companies themselves need to be transformed in terms of ownership and representativity levels. In our eyes, they have no credibility.

We firmly propose that government should introduce stringent conditions in the Service Level Agreement to agencies that tender for contracts that needs BEE ratings. We believe that government should have the powers to demand the report go to the extent of conducting separate audits regardless of the findings of rating agencies.

We call on trade unions to use their presence in private companies to monitor the implementation of Employment Equity policies and BEE compliance of these companies. Furthermore, the fact that companies have failed to comply even when they faced the danger of being fined, showed that these fines are not effective and more stringent measures needs to be put in place.

The fact that some of the members of the EE commission are directors in companies that have been implicated and found guilty in practises of collusion, but have never directly condemned them defies the principle of objectivity.

After 15 years of democracy, with clear evidence that "white ownership" of the economy is unlikely to be altered, is it not time that we consciously build black companies or unashamedly empower companies that are strictly and wholly owned by blacks. We also are concerned that some of the black companies have not build capacity and are effectively working as facilitators, getting government contracts and selling these to white-owned companies. We condemn this in the strongest of terms.

Statement issued by the Young Communist League, August 25 2009

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