Housing in Southern Africa October-November 2016

Cement & Concrete

Draft construction codes

Q uite unexpectedly there have been some major changes that couldhave a huge impact on construction companies includ- ing contractors, built environment professionals and now includes con- struction material suppliers. The previous codes applied only to contractors and built environment professionals. According to Levenstein, the sector code has 123 points available, as op- posed to 118 on the Amended Codes of Good Practice. The Amended Codes of Good Practice allow small companies knownas exemptedmicro enterprises (turnover of less than R10 million per annum) to provide a sworn affidavit to prove their BEE status. The draft construction codes have done away with this and require a verification agency or The Construc- tion Sector Council to confirm their BEE status. Exempted Micro Enterprises (EMEs) will also vary between Level 5 and Level 1, with white-owned companies allowed to implement skills development and enterprise and supplier development to increase their level. Interestingly, the sector enforces compliance with the Employment Equity (EE) Act. Clause 3.7.2 states that companies who are designated employers must submit their EE re- turns to the Department of Labour. If they have not been submitted the company will not be an empowering supplier. T he conference will be held on October 6 th and 7 th at Smuts Hall, University of Cape Town. he 2016 conference theme is ‘The role of Competition Policy on Eco- nomic Growth’. As part of the debates on the topic, the conference will also take stock of the effectiveness of competition enforcement in South Africa to date. Tackling the effectiveness of Com- petition Enforcement’s panel in- cludes: Michael Katz, the National Housing Finance Corporation’s Chair- person and Chairman of ENSafrica; David Lewis, Executive Director of Corruption Watch; the inimitable Dennis Davis, Judge President, Com- petition Appeal Court, South Af- rica; Menzi Simelane, Advocate and

BEE advisory firm, EconoBEE’s CEO, Lianne Levenstein says that Thabo Masombuka, CEO of the Construction Sector Council, recently launched the draft Construction Sector Codes for public comment.

Lianne Levenstein

“The empowering supplier status has been an extremely important addition to the Amended Codes, meaning that if your company is not an empowering supplier, your BEE certificate is effectivelymeaningless,” says Levenstein. “The Department of Labour, who is the custodian of the Employment Equity Act, can audit your company and issue hefty fines for non-com- pliance.” She adds that choosing

the appropriate competitive B-BBEE strategy is a sophisticated endeavour requiring knowledge and familiarity with the minute intricacies of the B-BBEE Act and Codes of Good prac- tice.Thelackofexpertiseinmanycom- panies countrywide hampers the suc- cessful implementationof the B-BBEE Codes in their operations. EconoBEE’s offers a high quality streamlined step-by-step approach to becoming BEE compliant. ■

Competition Commission’s 10 th annual conference The Competition Commission, The Competition Tribunal and University of Cape Town will present the 10 th Annual Conference on Competition Law, Economics and Policy.

advisor to the Minister of Human Settlements; and David Unterhalter from Group 621. The Competition Conference will be preceded by a joint workshop on October 5th 2016, organised by the Competition Commission, Univer- sity of Cape Town and Competition and Regulation European Summer School, where leading international scholars will facilitate training on various aspects of competition law and economics. The objective of this confer- ence is to bring together renowned

specialists in competition law and economics to debate relevant issues. The conference is targeted at aca- demics and practitioners (including competition agency officials, com- petition lawyers and competition economic consultants) with a keen interest in competition enforcement. The leading idea is to inform competition policy and to create the optimal conditions for a stimulating exchange of views. For further information contact Lydia Molefe on +27 12 394 3493 or email LydiaM@compcom.co.za ■

October/November 2016