AfriBusiness prepares for court application over BBBEE regulations

9 September 2016

AfriBusiness instructed its legal team to take the decision of Dr Rob Davies, Minister of Trade and Industry, regarding the public participation process about regulations that apply to Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) under review, in accordance with the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (Paja).

This follows after AfriBusiness sent a letter to Davies in April of this year in which it requested that the 30-day period that the minister granted for the public participation process over BBBEE regulations be extended with an additional 60 or 90 days. Davies turned down the request.

According to Stefan Pieterse, Spokesperson for AfriBusiness, 21 working days are not nearly enough for an adequate public participation process of a very technical concept regulation of nearly 80 pages. “Only 21 presentations could be handed in within the set 30 days, which is a little over two per province. These regulations will have an enormous effect on South African businesses and thus it is inconceivable that so little time was granted for reaction thereto.”

Pieterse continues to say that, should the BBBEE regulations not be revised again, it would have far-reaching consequences for South African businesses.

The court documents have been drawn up and are being signed off by a Senior Advocate after which it will be issued.

Issued by Stefan Pieterse, Spokesperson, AfriBusiness, 9 September 2016