Minister Rob Davies gazettes the Draft AgriBEE Sector Code
27 Mar 2012
The Minister of Trade and Industry (the dti), Dr Rob Davies has gazetted the Draft AgriBEE Sector Code for public comments and inputs in terms of section 9 (5) of the B-BBEE Act (Act 53 of 2003). The Draft AgriBEE Sector Code is a product of a negotiation process amongst stakeholders in the agricultural sector and alignment with the Codes of Good Practice, a process which was driven by the AgriBEE Charter Council.
The AgriBEE Charter Council through the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson, submitted the charter to the Minister of Trade and Industry for approval for gazette towards the end of 2011. The gazette means that members of the public have 60 days from the date of publish to make inputs and comments on the Draft Sector Code before it is finalised and gazetted as a legally binding Sector Code.
Minister Davies says that the key highlight of the Draft AgriBEE Sector Code is in dealing with the measurement of the Ownership element.
‘The Draft Sector Code makes provision for division of the Ownership element into two sections i.e. General/Equity Ownership and Land Ownership, thus accounting for the unique make-up of the sector in this respect which is that Ownership can be measured in terms of Equity but also with regard to Ownership of Land as an economic asset.