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August 7, 2009
Response too: COMPETITION COMMISSION NOT TO REFER COMPLAINT AGAINST the dti & ABVA
It is premature for ABVA to welcome the statement from the Competition Commission as a victory. The matter is in fact going to be referred to the Competition Tribunal by the complainants within the next two weeks. One must keep in mind that ABVA's members have a vested financial interest in monopolising the market for themselves and this is what they are deliberately doing in a manner that does not accord with the law.
The law does not require that self-assessments be accompanied by evidence. Verification agencies are required to select samples among the self-assessments and call for evidence on those. The evidence consists inter alia of highly confidential information such as the financial statements of the supplier. Suppliers therefore have the right not to allow such information to get into the hands of procuring companies or their verification agencies - for obvious reasons. Suppliers also have the constitutional right to insist that the evidence should not leave its premises and may stipulate that the documents only be inspected by an independent party, which need not be the procurer's verification agency. The supplier may also not be required to carry any part of the costs for this exercise as he has discharged his legal duty and right to submit a self-assessment. ABVA furthermore officially approves of an unlawful practice whereby most verification agencies contract with their clients that they will not even consider any self-assessments at all. They either do not realise or they deliberately flaunt the law that grants a right to suppliers to submit self-assessments. The rather devious method they use to enforce this is by asking their procuring clients to demand in their own names that all their suppliers be verified. It is in fact equally unlawful for a procuring company to insist on verified certificates only. ABVA omitted to inform you that the Competition Commission stated its agreement with our fundamental position as follows: "... the Commission acknowledges and agrees with the point you advance that it is not for ABVA or its members to make accreditation a pre-requisite and not to accept self-assessment." BEE consultants are being prejudiced in manner that suppresses competition as they play the useful role of assisting suppliers to prepare their self-assessments. The BEE system is too complex for most businesses to do it by themselves. We need to be aware of the negative effects on our society, our economy and on the promotion of BEE in South Africa. This includes the unchallenged abuse of the rights of vulnerable suppliers who are unlawfully forced to pay unnecessary fees to verifiers which increases the cost of doing business in this country. Many businesses find the costs difficult to afford and therefore develop resentment towards the BEE system. Please note that all references herein to "unlawful" practices are based on a legal analysis that can be made available on request.
Ivan van der Merwe
BEE Consultant
Tel. 021 852 8160
084 550 6044
Posted by StaffWriter at August 7, 2009 1:35 PM