Ndovhatshinyani Mandavha, Brownhilder Neneh
Abstract
The South African government introduced the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) policy to drive empowerment and transformation to redress the past imbalances created by the apartheid government. This study assessed compliance in implementing the B-BBEE enterprise and supplier development through the capability approach, providing the perceptions and experiences of the government, corporates and Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). The study applied the convergence parallel mixed methods research design. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the qualitative data from two government officials in the Gauteng province and 20 participants from corporates in the manufacturing industry. A survey was used to collect the quantitative data from 401 SMMEs operating in manufacturing. The findings show that the government was cognisant that the implementation of the B−BBEE enterprise and supplier development would face challenges, such as resistance by corporates to open the market for SMMEs as well as the readiness and capability of SMMEs to take advantage of the enterprise and supplier development opportunities. Corporates indicated that they were B−BBEE compliant with enterprise and supplier development and cited challenges such as no consequences for SMMEs which abandon the program, and the lack of resources. However, the majority of SMMEs indicated that they had not benefited from enterprise and supplier development.