Companies supplying the mines are measured against the Codes of Good Practice on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE Codes). The B-BBEE Codes determine the targets to be achieved, the priority of elements and the mechanism by which levels are awarded. Their clients, the mines, are subject to the Mining Charter, a different act with different categories and targets. Companies providing goods and services to the mining industry need to comply with elements of both Acts.
B-BBEE Codes VS The Mining Charter
The differences between the B-BBEE Codes and the Mining Charter are much greater than the differences between the Sectoral B-BBEE Codes which apply to different, non-mining, sectors of the economy. The Mining Charter preceded the B-BBEE Codes and where Sectoral Charters tend to conform to the categories and measures of the B-BBEE Codes, the Mining Charter does not.
The B-BBEE Codes are incremental, recognising eight levels of compliance. These levels act as an incentive for the selection of suppliers. Procuring from suppliers with better levels provides a company with more points to be used towards its own scorecard. The Mining Charter is binary: for the renewal of mining rights, certain targets must be achieved.
Many differences have a very little practical impact, for instance, the difference between Previously Disadvantaged Persons (PDP – B-BBEE Codes) and Historically Disadvantaged Persons (HDP – Mining Charter). Some of the differences between the two acts are very significant to suppliers to the mining industry. One of these is the difference between Preferential Procurement (B-BBEE Codes) and Procurement, Supplier and Enterprise Development (Mining Charter).
Preferential Procurement is based on Total Measured Procurement Spend (TMPS). TMPS is a subset of total procurement that can exclude imported goods if they are different in brand or specification to what is available locally. This is in contrast to the Mining Charter that prescribes the local content of goods purchased by mining companies.
Where The DTI & DMR Differ
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Minerals and Resources (DMR) do not agree on the definition of Local Content. “According to SATS 1286:2011, the local content of a product is the tender price less the value of imported content, expressed as a percentage.” (DTI). In other words, the DTI’s definition includes profit. The DMR’s definition states that “The calculation of Local Content excludes profit mark-up.”
In the B-BBEE Codes, Preferential Procurement points are achieved by buying from suppliers that meet various criteria. Compliance with the B-BBEE Codes is captured in Levels which in turn determine spend recognition level. For example, Level 8 has a spend recognition of 10% and Level 1, 135%. The more compliant a company is, the greater the advantage that that company will convey to its clients.
The Implementation Guide for the Mining Charter recognises B-BBEE compliant companies as having achieved a rating of Level 4 or better and being at least 25% +1 HDP owned. In other words, a company that achieves Level 1 but has 24% black ownership would not qualify as a B-BBEE compliant company under the Mining Charter.
Other significant differences are that the B-BBEE Codes award points for procuring from suppliers that are at least 30% black woman-owned, the Mining Charter requires majority women ownership (although not specified, we suspect that they mean black women-owned).
The B-BBEE Codes define the category of Designated Group which includes black people who are: Youth (aged 14 to 35); have a disability; are unemployed; live in underdeveloped rural areas or are military veterans. From that list, the Mining Charter only recognises the category of Youth (defined as 18 to 35) and then subject to the restrictions of national or provincial demographics.
The conclusion of this is that for empowerment to deliver the maximum competitive advantage, suppliers of goods or services to the mining industry should optimise their compliance not according to the B-BBEE Codes under which they are measured but rather according to the requirements of their clients, who are measured under the Mining Charter.
What Strategy Should Be Used?
Shaping a strategy around the Mining Charter leads to some unexpected outcomes. If your company is 25% + 1 black-owned and has achieved Level 4, it is recognised as a B-BBEE company. If your clients are subject to the Mining Charter, there is no incentive to achieve a higher B-BBEE score. Where a higher level makes a company a more attractive supplier under the B-BBEE Codes, the difference between Level 4 and Level 1 is invisible to the Mining Charter.
Phrased in the negative, if your company cannot achieve at least 51% black woman/youth ownership, it will not be recognised as having any black woman or youth ownership. If it does not achieve 25% + 1 black ownership, it will not be recognised as having any black ownership and if it has not achieved Level 4, it will not be recognised as B-BBEE compliant.
