There has been an escalation in the number of companies who continue to contravene the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act (B-BBEE) by misrepresenting their BEE status, according to B-BBEE Commission, Zodwa Ntuli.
“This will not be tolerated,” she said, pointing out that increased incidents of fraudulent and invalid certificates pointed to problems in B-BBEE verification.
This follows an investigation last month that revealed that a verification agency had improperly issued two B-BBEE certificates.
“A verification process is critical to properly reflect the extent and level of transformation of each entity, and manipulation of financial information that ought to be used to conduct this process will not be tolerated,” she said
A valid B-BBEE certificate can help a company secure contracts with the government and large companies, including state-owned companies.
