The Black Business Council (BBC) has called on newly reappointed Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to ensure that the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA), which it views as a disabler to transformation, is replaced with a more suitable instrument.
 
“Minister Gordhan is an experienced hand and would do well to move faster to address black business concerns on the PPPFA and State procurement patterns to strengthen governance and transformation alike.

“We expect him to move swiftly to continue the work undertaken on former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s watch to replace the PPPFA. The BBC and its member organisations have made and will make further submissions to the minister with specific guidance on what ought to change and why,” BBC CEO Mohale Ralebitso said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ralebitso further called for a new law and supporting regulations to be put in place to be implemented no later than the second quarter of 2016, noting that the BBC policy conference in September had provided specific guidelines on what interim arrangement should be in place of the PPPFA as a new instrument and an enabling mechanism.
 
The BBC referenced the Black Management Forum’s Transformation Barometer, which held that transformation in South Africa’s corporate landscape had “taken steps backwards”.

“There is urgency to help build and grow the next wave of globally competitive black-controlled businesses to take the country forward and shape a new narrative that will replace the established lethargy on transformation in Corporate South Africa,” he remarked.
 
The BBC, meanwhile, welcomed the return of Minister Pravin Gordhan as Finance Minister, commending President Jacob Zuma for heeding public sentiments around the appointment.
 
“As Nene’s predecessor, Minister Gordhan had cemented the discipline established in the management of the country’s finances and had a firm grasp on the important balancing act between fiscal prudence and socio-economic development,” the statement read.
 
The BBC also looked forward to “sustained progress and the acceleration of service delivery and transformation” under the stewardship of newly appointed Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister David van Rooyen.