AgriBEE charter launched
04 April 2008

Following four years of work, the agricultural sector's Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Charter was launched by Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana on 04th April 2008.

Speaking at the launch, she said the charter would help ensure that there would be more black owners and managers, and it would lead to a transfer of skills and training. "(It is to) facilitate BEE by implementing initiatives to include black South Africans at all levels of agricultural activity and enterprises," Xingwana said.

The country's biggest farmers unions however questioned the implementation of the Charter.

AgriSA's Johan Pienaar said the AgriBEE Charter Council, which was yet to be set up, had to look at the duties of both the government and the private sector. He said the Council would also have to determine whether the agricultural sector needed separate BEE Codes or whether the generic ones would suffice.

"The real question is; what are farmers to do under the charter?" Pienaar said.

Paul van der Walt, president of TAU SA, said "the tokens of AgriBEE" were not economically reachable in the agricultural environment. TAU SA said it had found that there were risks when it came to the supply of food. "The fact that ideological processes are forced onto a highly sensitive economic environment like agriculture is of great concern," Van der Walt said.

The charter, which has already been published in the Government Gazette, paved the way for the setting up of the AgriBEE Charter Council which would oversee its implementation.

It included indicative scorecards which were yet to be finalised by the council, once it was established.

AgriBEE was first mooted in 2004 when the AgriBEE framework was drawn up; since then various stakeholders have been working to finalise the Charter.

Sapa,  www.business.iafrica.com