A member of ABVA put out an email advert yesterday explaining that Self Rating is not valid. They said "Spending money on suppliers who did self-assessment to compile their BBBEE scorecard does not count as BEE procurement spend on your scorecard". This is totally wrong. They use as their source an article on the Mail and Guardian web site, which does not state that self-rating is not acceptable and which incidentally also quotes me. It is not the first time they have issued an advert that was incorrect - the previous time they were forced to issue a retraction and apology.

The facts are

1. There are no accredited verification agencies.
2. The Competition Commission, at our request, has issued the only official legal comment on self-rating in the past year.
3. The gazetted BEE Codes of Good Practice does not make verification mandatory.
   

In the Competition Commission's response they stated:

• Currently the dti does not make the use of a verificaion agency mandatory but the decision whether to accept or reject scorecards produced by independent verification agencies or through self-rating/self assessment rests on the producer of goods/services.

• ABVA recommends that its verification agency member apply to SANAS for accreditation and that it is not a prerequisite to use an ABVA member for verification purposes.

• ABVA has undertaken to raise awareness among its members regarding the concerns raised in the complaint to ensure that if the practice exists among its members, it is not condoned.

Obviously the practice exists, and to date ABVA has not made sufficient effort to raise awareness amongst its members, and this member in particular. We have laid a complaint about this member with ABVA and will be asking the Competition Commission to investigate why ABVA is refusing to act on the undertaking it had given in order to avoid potential prosecution by the Competition Tribunal.

In the meantime, its actions and those of its members are continuing to cause confusion and extreme damage to the cause of broad-based black economic empowerment. The sentiment among previous supporters of transformation is rapidly changing to anger, because of the confusion sowed, and extra expense that businesses see they will encounter. There is also extreme anger at what we call "bullies" - the big corporates that seem to believe they are above the law, and choose to implement the type of economic empowerment that suits them.

What we all do agree on is any rating needs to be supported by proper and acceptable evidence of your BEE activities - whether it be a "certificate" or a self-assessment. If you do not have proof of your BEE activities or of BEE spend, you will not be able to claim points. That is why our new low cost service EconoLog and our 10 Step Process to BEE Compliance is proving so popular.... even amongst many BEE consultants and verification agencies.

Finally we call on the minister of trade and industry to ensure that BEE is put back on track - the way it was intended to be, as per the excellent job the task force did on the Codes of Good Practice, and not the way each company seems to want to interpret them in their own interest.