OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 11.00am.
THE Black Economic Empowerment Commission, headed by Cyril Ramaphosa, has proposed that it should be given the status of a statutory body and report directly to the president, in a bid to improve the results of black empowerment.
This follows the findings of a draft report by the commission that the government’s privatisation programme has failed to achieve black empowerment objectives, Business Day reported.
The report pinpoints a lack of effective communication as one of the biggest problems facing black economic empowerment efforts in the public sector.
It suggests that government departments should have built-in communication mechanisms to ensure that new policies are clearly communicated and translated into intergrated policies. The commission says current institutional monitoring and evaluation systems are inadequate to measure black empowerment policy outcomes.
The commission has thumbed the confusion surrounding procurement and tender policy as the stumbling block in what it regards as the government’s most effective tool in advancing blacks.
It has also noted that black women are still being discriminated against.
The commission has further suggested convening a national summit of black professionals and white corporate South Africa to develop an action plan for changing the racial composition in corporate ranks.
Set up two years ago, the commission, which includes representatives from the Black Business Council, was taxed to established whether black empowerment had succeeded.