State procurement will come under the spotlight at the upcoming Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Commission’s annual conference.
Commissioner Zodwa Ntuli said the conference, which will be held in Johannesburg next month, will focus on state procurement, grants, incentives, licensing and concessions as means to achieve real economic transformation.
“B-BBEE can be utilised to bring about economic transformation and access to opportunities and markets by black people through procurement, grants, incentives, licensing and other concessions, and processes within the state must align fully with this purpose.
We hope to have accounting officers, procurement officers and chief operating officers from all spheres of government, state-owned entities and the private sector to exchange views on what is expected of them in practice,” said Ntuli.
The conference, under the theme: “Improving State Procurement for Real Empowerment”, is aimed at finding effective ways in which the state can make B-BBEE a reality for black South Africans and to achieve the objectives of the B-BBEE Act.
Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Bulelani Magwanishe said the theme of the conference emphasises the need to accelerate Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment, especially for the most marginalised groups such as black women, workers and young people.
“Every organ of state and public entity must use procurement, incentives and grants more effectively to drive economic empowerment to support more black entrepreneurs and enterprises that can also deliver the job opportunities required by our economy.
Thus every entrepreneur, small and big enterprises, women and youth owned businesses, can benefit immensely from this conference, and network with members of the public and corporate sectors,” the Deputy Minister said.
It is expected that the conference will provide guidance on the requirements of the B-BBEE Act, development of internal procedures to support compliance, reporting requirements, ways to identify noncompliance and fronting practices, as well as alignment between procurement and B-BBEE requirements. – SAnews.gov.za
