Government close to ‘entrenching’ BEE

A MAJOR transformation effort to bring formerly disadvantaged Namibians into the economic sector through legislation will kick off in the near future.

Prime Minister Nahas Angula launched the consultation process for the Transformational Economic and Social Empowerment Framework (Tesef), which is another term for black economic empowerment (BEE), last Thursday. “The Cabinet ad hoc committee tasked with the matter has now identified a consultancy firm to spearhead the design of Tesef,” Angula told reporters at the launch.”The goal is to develop a comprehensive framework for the empowerment of previously disadvantaged Namibians on the principles of social justice, economic growth and transformation,” Angula explained.”It further entails the identification of barriers to participation, control and ownership of economic assets by previously disempowered Namibians.We will also devise systems to prevent negative tendencies of cronyism, window dressing, favouritism and patronage,” the Prime Minister added.A private company, DECTI Namibia, a subsidiary of DECTI SA in South Africa, has won the Government tender to hold talks with all stakeholders and to draw up a BEE policy in 12 months.This will include increased procurement from companies owned by previously disadvantaged Namibians (PDN) to reduce imports from South Africa, and providing opportunities to PDNs to buy a stake into “white-owned” companies as well as appointing more managers from such a background.This process was already introduced in South Africa a few years ago, which forced huge corporates such as De Beers to sell a certain percentage of ownership to black South Africans.Various transformation charters for each economic sector like fishing, agriculture or tourism were formulated and Namibia will follow a similar path.The financial sector has already submitted its Financial Service Charter to Minster Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila a few weeks ago.According to Malverene Rittman of DECTI Namibia, the transformation or BEE framework will be completed by April 2008.Consultations start next week and we have seven working groups, one for each sector.”We will hold meetings with the private sector, Government and social stakeholders like labour unions, women and people with disabilities,” Rittman added.”We expect to formulate three drafts during the process and review them every three to four months until the final document is completed in a year from now.”Meetings are planned for all 13 regions.Rittman, a lawyer by profession, earlier was the preferential procurement manager at Rosh Pinah zinc mine.She then moved to the Namibia Preferential Procurement Council (NPPC), set up by the large mining companies operating in southern Namibia.The NPPC scrutinises small and medium enterprises and other suppliers owned by previously disadvantaged Namibians who want to be added to the preferential procurement database of those mining houses.The database focuses on the identification, classification and verification of the Black Economic Empowerment credentials of both existing and new suppliers.The first workshop under the auspices of the Namibian Government to formulate a black empowerment policy was held a year ago.Originally, Cabinet assigned the office of the former Prime Minister in 2004 to begin with wide-ranging consultations in all 13 regions.This did not take place.Nearly five years ago, in October 2002, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) made history by organising the first conference on BEE with the Namibia Chamber of Commerce (NCCI).The financial sector embarked on its financial service charter two years ago, while the tourism sector is actively engaged in drafting a BEE charter through Fenata, the umbrella organisation of all tourism associations in Namibia, which started it in 2004.”The Cabinet ad hoc committee tasked with the matter has now identified a consultancy firm to spearhead the design of Tesef,” Angula told reporters at the launch.”The goal is to develop a comprehensive framework for the empowerment of previously disadvantaged Namibians on the principles of social justice, economic growth and transformation,” Angula explained.”It further entails the identification of barriers to participation, control and ownership of economic assets by previously disempowered Namibians.We will also devise systems to prevent negative tendencies of cronyism, window dressing, favouritism and patronage,” the Prime Minister added.A private company, DECTI Namibia, a subsidiary of DECTI SA in South Africa, has won the Government tender to hold talks with all stakeholders and to draw up a BEE policy in 12 months.This will include increased procurement from companies owned by previously disadvantaged Namibians (PDN) to reduce imports from South Africa, and providing opportunities to PDNs to buy a stake into “white-owned” companies as well as appointing more managers from such a background.This process was already introduced in South Africa a few years ago, which forced huge corporates such as De Beers to sell a certain percentage of ownership to black South Africans.Various transformation charters for each economic sector like fishing, agriculture or tourism were formulated and Namibia will follow a similar path.The financial sector has already submitted its Financial Service Charter to Minster Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila a few weeks ago.According to Malverene Rittman of DECTI Namibia, the transformation or BEE framework will be completed by April 2008.Consultations start next week and we have seven working groups, one for each sector.”We will hold meetings with the private sector, Government and social stakeholders like labour unions, women and people with disabilities,” Rittman added.”We expect to formulate three drafts during the process and review them every three to four months until the final document is completed in a year from now.”Meetings are planned for all 13 regions.Rittman, a lawyer by profession, earlier was the preferential procurement manager at Rosh Pinah zinc mine.She then moved to the Namibia Preferential Procurement Council (NPPC), set up by the large mining companies operating in southern Namibia.The NPPC scrutinises small and medium enterprises and other suppliers owned by previously disadvantaged Namibians who want to be added to the preferential procurement database of those mining houses.The database focuses on the identification, classification and verification of the Black Economic Empowerment credentials of both existing and new suppliers.The first workshop under the auspices of the Namibian Government to formulate a black empowerment policy was held a year ago.Originally, Cabinet assigned the office of the former Prime Minister in 2004 to begin with wide-ranging consultations in all 13 regions.This did not take place.Nearly five years ago, in October 2002, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) made history by organising the first conference on BEE with the Namibia Chamber of Commerce (NCCI).The financial sector embarked on its financial service charter two years ago, while the tourism sector is actively engaged in drafting a BEE charter through Fenata, the umbrella organisation of all tourism associations in Namibia, which started it in 2004.