The objectives of the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act no 53 of 2003 (B-BBEE Act) are to facilitate broad-based black economic empowerment by: · promoting economic transformation in order to enable meaningful participation of black people in the economy; · achieving substantial change in the racial composition of ownership and management structures and in the skilled occupations of existing and new enterprises; · increasing the extent to which communities, workers, co-operatives and other collective businesses own and manage existing and new businesses and increasing their access to economic activities, infrastructure and skills training; · increasing the extent to which black women own and manage existing and new businesses, and increasing their access to economic activities, infrastructure and skills training; · promoting investment programmes that lead to broad-based and meaningful participation in the economy by black people in order to achieve sustainable development and general prosperity; · empowering rural and local communities by enabling them to gain access to economic activities, land infrastructure, ownership and skills; and · promoting access to finance for black economic empowerment. It is not compulsory for a company to comply with the Act, and there are no penalties for non-compliance; but as procurement is an element in the scorecard that counts for 20% of the total score, it has become a driving force for getting companies that do business with organs of State to comply. A supplier’s BEE score affects the procurement score of its client. Therefore the client will chose a supplier with the highest score as it improves their score, and chance for acquiring a particular contract as opposed to their competitors with a lower BEE score. Most State Owned Entities (SOEs) utilize the BEE codes, and even have minimum levels of compliance that they expect from their suppliers to remain on their databases, or be eligible to tender for a particular contract. Companies need BEE certificates in order to tender for contracts with SOEs, large corporates, and with each other. These certificates are verified by BEE Verification Agencies that go into the companies and verify their claims on the seven elements of BEE, as discussed above. Once the information has been verified, they issue a certificate 60