Rob Davies – praag.org

‘Too few Afrikaans-speakers in dept. of trade and industry’

The under-representation of Afrikaans-speaking personnel in the department of trade and industry is unacceptable and the Freedom Front Plus will be asking the minister of trade and Industry, Mr. Rob Davies, to rectify the imbalance, Adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus’ parliamentary spokesperson on trade and industry said.

It appears from a reply to a question of Adv. Alberts addressed to the minister in which he asked for an analysis of the languages spoken by all the personnel in his department and other institutions which report to the department of trade and industry.

According to Adv. Alberts, in certain sections in his department, such as the Companies Tribunal and the National Consumer Commission, there aren’t any Afrikaans speaking personnel.

“It is unacceptable and worrying and serves as proof that the interests of minorities such as Afrikaans speakers are being ignored by the ANC government, especially when it is taken into consideration that a lot of correspondence and many complaints are submitted in Afrikaans,” Adv. Alberts said.

From the minister’s reply, it appears that of the 1 541 personnel in the department, only 123 are Afrikaans speakers, while Afrikaans is the third most spoken language in the country.

Apart from the Companies Tribunal and the National Consumer Commission, where there aren’t any Afrikaans speakers, percentage wise, there are only 4,4% at the Export Credit Insurance Corporation and 1,2% at the National Empowerment Fund.

The National Metrology Institute of South Africa is the most representative with 37,5% of personnel being Afrikaans speakers.

Communist Party supports punishment of SA whites for ‘fronting’

The SACP has welcomed the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Amendment Bill which would see the assigning of a commissioner to solely investigate incidents of fronting.

“The SACP urges government to move with the necessary speed to finalise provisions in law that allows for fronting to be criminalised,” said spokesman Malesela Maleka on Wednesday.

Fronting is when companies place unqualified black individuals in high positions so the companies seem to be complying with the BEE Act.

The black individuals are made to look as though they own the company or have decision-making powers in the company when they actually do not.

“Such levels of dishonesty are nothing but corruption. Those who are involved in fronting are merely reproducing a parasitic, compradorial and colonial type relation between black sections of the capitalist class and established capital,” said Maleka.

“The SACP calls on government to act decisively and criminalise fronting, to investigate the nature and extent of the practice and to act against those involved.”

On Tuesday Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies said the Amendment Bill would put in place strict measures to tackle fronting.

He said a commissioner would be assigned to receive cases of fronting and investigate them.

Davies said ordinary law enforcement officers did not have the capacity to investigate transactions to see where fronting was taking place.

“We welcome government’s decision to appoint a commissioner to deal with this scourge,” said Maleka.

– SAPA

New bill will punish whites for ‘passive black shareholders’

The gazetted Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Amendment Bill will put in place strict measures to tackle fronting, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Tuesday.

“What we are doing is defining it much more closely in the bill so that there is a specific statutory offence of fronting,” Davies told reporters in Pretoria.

Fronting is when companies pretend to be compliant with the act by placing blacks in positions that would make them seem as if they either own the company, or are at a level to make decisions in the company.

“Now that would be a fraud because you are trying to do that because you want to get a regulatory benefit, or present yourself as something that you are not, and that is fraud.”

Davies was speaking after a presidential BBBEE advisory meeting which reviewed the progress of the act and the codes of good practice.

He said a commissioner would be assigned to solely focus on fronting. The commissioner would receive and investigate cases of fronting, correct the situation and, in extreme cases, he would have the authority to prosecute those involved.

“The problem is we haven’t got provisions in place to catch fronting… ordinary law enforcement officers don’t have the capacity to go and investigate transactions of that nature to see where fronting is taking place.”

Currently those found guilty of the practise can be charged with fraud and face imprisonment.

“So we are introducing a BEE commissioner who will be charged with looking into the matter,” he said.

Davies said the objective was to provide ways to measure the degree to which an individual was involved in empowerment.

Council sub-committee chairman Sandile Zungu said they were focusing on fronting because it infringed on human dignity.

“If we are to build a society based on justice then fronting has no place in our society.”

Zungu said the practice had reached the stage of “aggressive fronting”.

The minister said the amendments to the bill would ensure black economic empowerment contributed to the creation of real entrepreneurs in South Africa.

“It opens up new opportunities for black business people who are active players in the economy, and are not passive shareholders in somebody else’s business.”

– SAPA