SEVEN years after the Government ordered a black economic empowerment (BEE) policy for the country, Namibia is finally set to start implementing the Transformation and Empowerment Socio-economic Framework (Tesef) this year.
According to the latest Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila last week, 25 per cent of Tesef must be implemented within the private and public sectors by 2011-12. For this, the Minister has budgeted N$2,1 million until 2013-14, equally spread as N$700 000 over the next three years.
The BEE expenditure is motivated as “broader empowerment levels through Tesef especially by historically disadvantaged [men] and women”.The various BEE components will translate into points for an eventual scorecard to be scrutinised by a Tesef Measurement Secretariat, which will be overseen by a Tesef Governing Board. Companies have to register there for Tesef compliance and to obtain their scores.
It would seem that Namibia is not going to go the independent verification route. I think this might be a bad mistake – government departments the world over are rarely as effecient as the private sector.