Page 6 - Transformation Report.indd

2. THE BEE LEGISLATIVE

ENVIRONMENT

The BEE environment has been in a constant state of flux over the last few
years, making progressive and long-range planning for any business a highly
complex task. 2015 has been no exception and with the introduction of the
Amended BEE Codes of Good Practice (“Amended BEE Codes”), a further
level of complexity has been introduced for entities to ensure their BEE
compliance.

The Group has The Amended BEE Codes of Good Practice have set higher BEE targets under
all the BEE elements for entities and have also introduced minimum thresholds
established under the key BEE elements of Ownership, Skills Development and Supplier
and Enterprise Development which need to be met, failing which entities will
internal BEE face an automatic level deduction, compounding the difficulty in achieving a
high BEE level (or even just being BEE compliant).
consultation Law firms have not been spared and face extreme challenges to meet the
requirements of the Amended BEE Codes, with many firms risking BEE non-
support to assist compliance should they delay or fail to properly plan for this challenge. The
complexity of the current BEE environment and the continuing absence of a
firms with their clear Legal Sector BEE Charter aligned to the needs of the legal industry make
proper planning for any law firm a daunting task which asks extensive BEE
annual BEE expertise and a hands-on approach to ensure that planning is appropriate
and executed for vitally necessary BEE scorecard points. As most law firms do
planning not have in-house expertise or management capability to plan and implement
their BEE plan, the threat of poor results across the legal sector is greatly
increased. It is our assessment that most law firm BEE levels will reduce by
three to four levels across the board, with more BEE progressive firms being
able to achieve at best only between a Level 4 or 5 BEE recognition and many
firms at risk of being non-compliant under the Amended BEE Codes.

To counter this threat and proactively assist Group firms to not only be
BEE compliant, but continue to achieve exemplary results, the Group has
established a specialised internal BEE consultation support division to
assist firms with their annual BEE planning and sustainable implementation
thereof as well as provide support and handholding through the complex
process of annual BEE verification. This support accompanied with training
of firms and their administrative staff has allowed firms to develop an in-
depth understanding of BEE, prioritise BEE at management level and actively
plan for high BEE levels. It has also enabled firms to view BEE positively and
unanimously adopt the Group BEE Standards in what is a vibrant statement
of a communal commitment to transformation by member firms.

4 setting the standard