THE SECTORS: AGRI-BEE
CHALLENGE IS TO DRIVE TRANSFORMATION IN TANDEM WITH FOOD SECURITY BY LYNETTE DICEY
AGRI-BEE LEVEL 3 % of target achieved
Agri-BEE
Target
120,0
68,3
60,1
65,7
80,0
67,9
86,7
100,0
60,0
40,0
20,0 Black Ownership: Equity Ownership
Management and Control
Skills Development
The Agri-BEE sector codes were originally aligned to the joint vision for agriculture as contained in the Strategic Plan for South African Agriculture. It aims for a united and prosperous agricultural sector designed to meet the challenges of constrained global competitiveness and low profitability, skewed participation, low investor confidence, inadequate support and delivery systems, and poor and unsustainable management of natural resources. The whole idea behind a sector plan and code is to tailor-make the generic codes for the sector, explains Annelize Crosby, head of Legal Intelligence at the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz). “When the generic codes are amended, the sector codes are usually also amended to align them with the generic codes.” She concedes, however, that the sector code in itself is not sufficient to ensure sustainable transformation.
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Enterprise and Supplier Development
SocioEconomic Development
With an average of 91.44 points, the Agri sector is a level 3 contributor in this year’s Sanlam Gauge report. One of the biggest challenges facing the Agri-BEE Charter Council is that very few businesses report on their BEE compliance. This has made it impossible for the charter council to ever provide a report on the status of transformation in the agricultural sector even though this is legal requirement of all charter councils. The Sanlam Gauge sample for the agri sector, for example, was just 216. Industry stakeholders say a more efficient approach is required to monitor and analyse the impact of the code on transformation in the sector. Without legal enforcement, the charter council relies on voluntary compliance. Ultimately, therefore, it is largely those who need BEE points that provide reports.
