KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Treasury has recorded a significant improvement in its Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) performance, advancing from a Level 6 contributor to a Level 3 contributor after achieving an overall score of 91.02 points on its latest B-BBEE scorecard.
KZN Finance MEC Francois Rodgers welcomed the achievement, saying it reflects the department’s continued commitment to transformation, economic inclusion, skills development, enterprise support and socio-economic development.
“This improvement from Level 6 to Level 3 demonstrates our commitment to advancing meaningful economic transformation and creating opportunities for historically disadvantaged individuals and businesses.
“While we are encouraged by this achievement, we remain focused on strengthening our empowerment initiatives and ensuring that transformation contributes to inclusive economic growth across KwaZulu-Natal,” Rodgers said in a statement on Monday.
B-BBEE contributor levels measure an organisation’s performance against the objectives of South Africa’s B-BBEE framework, with Level 1 representing the highest contributor status and Level 8 the lowest recognised level, while entities scoring zero are classified as non-compliant.
The latest scorecard places KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Treasury at Level 3, reflecting its improved performance against the applicable B-BBEE criteria.
Rodgers said the department's strong performance was driven by progress in key elements of the scorecard, including:
• Preferential procurement: deliberate targeted procurement saw the department exceeding its targets on procurement spend on designated groups;
• Skills development: through various training programmes for employees, internships and learnerships, including the critical SAICA (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants) programme where the department produces chartered accountants to service the public sector;
• Enterprise and supplier development, and socio-economic development included initiatives such as the iLembe Organic community project which supports rural black farmers including youth beneficiaries.
Rodgers reaffirmed Provincial Treasury’s commitment to building on this achievement and further advancing the objectives of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment in the province. – SAnews.gov.za
