The Black Business Council may take the government to the Constitutional Court over a procurement process it believes to be unfair, spokesman Sandile Zungu said on Monday.
“We are quite keen to test… are set asides unconstitutional when the Constitution allows affirmative action? It doesn't make any sense,” BBC secretary Zungu said in Johannesburg.
“Set asides” refers to a certain category of work in a government contract being set aside for specific group, for example women, or blacks.
“Set asides is basically saying this volume of work will be left for this category of people,” Zungu said.
However, the National Treasury has said set asides are unconstitutional.
“They said specifically it would be unconstitutional. They… will not base their procurement practices on the standards of set asides, so we have to test that.”
Zungu said Treasury believed anyone should be able to apply for a contract, and if one could fulfil the price, one could do the work.
This meant the state's buying power was not being used to transform the economy.
Do it, I fucking dare you. It is alarming how the BBC insists in portraying itself as a bunch of disgruntled losers who use the race card to get their way. But it is heartening to see how few people take them seriously. Maybe a little court case will cause people to pay attention.
Black business wants a bigger slice of government spend, though not necessarily at the expense of white business, the Black Business Council says.
Black business wants a bigger slice of government spend, though not necessarily at the expense of white business, the Black Business Council says.