Everything about the Republic of South Africa is said to be entering exciting times and facing new challenges. This is usually said within the context and against the backdrop of a changing face of South African political and economic landscapes from the past history of exclusion, deprivation, segregation and prejudice to the future of inclusion, tolerance, equal distribution and social harmony. The economic equal distributive idea is likened to the socio-democratic ideals of social justice, which advocates equal distribution of wealth to all citizens of the country. The South African idea is that South Africans are now in the new social era and the social transformation, on all fronts and most particularly the economic front, must move with the times and reflect the times that all its citizens find themselves in. On the political front, the year 1994 ushered in a new face of South Africa with the first democratic elections which, for the first time in hundreds of years, saw the inclusion and participation of the African majority of its citizens. These changes were soon entrenched by the adoption of the new South African Constitution, which espouses noble ideas of respect, equality, tolerance, economic development, distribution and access to country's wealth in a fair and equitable manner. The Constitution forces its citizens and the government to seek to redress the past imbalances particularly in the economic front and proactively take measures to see to this equilibrium of South Africa's wealth. Legislature, various political fronts and various economic fronts rallied around these principles and began talking the concept of Broad- Based Black Economic Empowerment. This concept has one central theme, which is to advance the economic participation of the previously (and in many respects the current) disadvantaged individuals into the mainstream economic activities of the country. It further aims to fast track their access to economic wealth and sharing of the fruit of common market and to seek to even out the economic disparities in many sectors of the society. As to how this empowerment process is being implemented and achieved, this paper will not even begin to traverse the diverse proposals and ideas of its implementation and realisations. Various economic sectors produced sector-specific economic empowerment charters in an attempt to lay the road maps on how to achieve this equilibrium of wealth distribution into the African hands. Virtually all-economic sectors are being active in that front including the mining sector. The Mineral and Petroleum Charter was among the first industry-specific charter to be produced after much publicised debates as to the best frame within which to approach and implement this concept. After that charter has been adopted and its implementation being realised, the South African government seeks now to introduces the Mineral and Petroleum Royalty Bill, which aims to collect monies from the mining houses that conduct mining activities in many areas. The move has caused many heated debates within the industry with the government forging ahead with its proposal subject to various consultative processes, while the business is also forging ahead with its attempts to halt this move right in its drafting stages. The purpose of this essay will be to look at the concept of the royalties, what they are, why is the South African government keen to introduce this Bill, why is business against them, why do we have them over and beyond the normal mining tax systems and the requirements of Black Economic Empowerment programs. In doing so, the article will also shed some light on their (royalties) nature and make necessary proposals in the process which, it is hoped, would in the main assist government and the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) to implement, modify and manage royalty regime(s) in the mining and the petroleum industries. The essay will, to the extent that it can, rely on case law but the topic is mostly theoretical in South Africa and very few case law authority exist to clarify and provide thoroughly researched and considered legal analysis of the topic. The theoretical research of this article will take the reader to various countries that are in more or less the same boat as South Africa in terms of their relative reliance and dependence on mining industry and mining products for economic survival and activities. Similarities also extend to the relative sizes of these countries, similar perceptions of economic participation or lack thereof by mining houses vis-à-vis paying taxes that are congruent with their incomes, non-existing developmental corporate social responsibilities, no or less royalty payments and generally prevailing negative social-environmental impact of mines and mining houses on immediate communities within which they function and carry on their businesses. It is the writer's opinion that the political backgrounds of these countries, as compared with South Africa, also have huge impact and influence on how the concept of royalties can be understood locally. A comparative analysis of their modus operandi will be undertaken to see if the legislative attempts by South Africa is in or out of order in seeking to introduce royalties and whether its reasons are in or out of tune with sound local or international economic principles. Immediate economic concerns surrounding royalties are that royalties have the potential to attract or dismiss much needed investments, be it direct or indirect investment. Their effect on shareholders’ dividends, growing local mining costs/ business and their general impact on financial upkeep of mining operations in South Africa will also be researched in this essay. The essay will therefore assume this outline of topics, definition and origin of the concept; international comparative analysis; the South African past mining regimes visà- vis royalties; the current South African Royalty Bill; critics of the South African royalty Bill; the defenders of the Bill; some proposals; way forward; and conclusion.

This study examines the role women’s groups play in the lives of 10 Muslim women in South Africa. A qualitative methodology was employed to gain information from two women’s groups in Johannesburg. An open-ended questionnaire, focus groups, and individual interviews were used to elicit information. The data were initially analysed using a computer-based content analysis programme (Atlas-ti), to identify a priori and emergent themes and categories in the data. These themes and categories were then used as the basis for a qualitative interpretive analysis, focused in particular on issues of empowerment with respect to psychological, community, economic, intellectual and political empowerment, and more specifically on gender equality. The study would thus suggest that while these groups do have many positive outcomes, the issues dealt with in women’s groups cannot be isolated from the broader social context in which Muslim women live. While the processes of empowerment appear to have begun in areas of psychological, community, intellectual, economic and political empowerment in this sample of women, empowerment with respect to gender equality still seems far off.

<p>Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) has been a topic of discussion since the dawn of democracy in April 1994. Due to the entrenched inequalities of the past, economic empowerment is very important for the economic growth of the majority of South Africa&rsquo / s citizens. However, significant economic enrichment of black people has not been made, despite, economic success, legislation, state policies and programme interventions. This economic growth is to be realised through the use of preferential procurement as a policy tool for BEE. Whilst sufficient legislation has been enacted to regulate preferential procurement, to favour black people, much still seems to be lacking in the enforcement of the laws in public procurement. Central to the challenges of preferential procurement is the disharmony between the Framework legislation governing preferential procurement and BEE. This discord has seen two visions being followed for preferential procurement / the Procurement Act refers to the beneficiaries of BEE as historically disadvantaged individuals (HDI / s) and the goals for BEE are measured through specific goals which promotes narrow empowerment / the BBBEE Act on the other hand defines black people as the recipients of BEE and through the BEE Codes broad-based empowerment is promoted through seven core elements. This congruency has not served the promotion of preferential procurement, it has created a hindrance that frustrates economic growth for those it is intended. The other quandary that undermines the success of preferential procurement is willful practices engaged by both tenderers and public officials / skills deficiency in the adjudication of tenders and self-interest. The success of BEE through preferential procurement is dependent on a coherently legislated procurement environment fortified by perceptive public officials. The objective of this thesis is to analyse the impact of these challenges on the success of preferential procurement. The study will highlight the main practices that defeat the use of preferential procurement. This will include an analysis of the various legislation and the amendments thereto. In addition the enquiry will examine the proficiency of public officials in the adjudication of public tendering. Recommendations for a successful preferential public procurement environment will be made. The proposed thesis will utilise, inter alia, relevant legislation, case law, theses, journals, books and policy documents.</p>

<p>Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) has been a topic of discussion since the dawn of democracy in April 1994. Due to the entrenched inequalities of the past, economic empowerment is very important for the economic growth of the majority of South Africa&rsquo / s citizens. However, significant economic enrichment of black people has not been made, despite, economic success, legislation, state policies and programme interventions. This economic growth is to be realised through the use of preferential procurement as a policy tool for BEE. Whilst sufficient legislation has been enacted to regulate preferential procurement, to favour black people, much still seems to be lacking in the enforcement of the laws in public procurement. Central to the challenges of preferential procurement is the disharmony between the Framework legislation governing preferential procurement and BEE. This discord has seen two visions being followed for preferential procurement / the Procurement Act refers to the beneficiaries of BEE as historically disadvantaged individuals (HDI / s) and the goals for BEE are measured through specific goals which promotes narrow empowerment / the BBBEE Act on the other hand defines black people as the recipients of BEE and through the BEE Codes broad-based empowerment is promoted through seven core elements. This congruency has not served the promotion of preferential procurement, it has created a hindrance that frustrates economic growth for those it is intended. The other quandary that undermines the success of preferential procurement is willful practices engaged by both tenderers and public officials / skills deficiency in the adjudication of tenders and self-interest. The success of BEE through preferential procurement is dependent on a coherently legislated procurement environment fortified by perceptive public officials. The objective of this thesis is to analyse the impact of these challenges on the success of preferential procurement. The study will highlight the main practices that defeat the use of preferential procurement. This will include an analysis of the various legislation and the amendments thereto. In addition the enquiry will examine the proficiency of public officials in the adjudication of public tendering. Recommendations for a successful preferential public procurement environment will be made. The proposed thesis will utilise, inter alia, relevant legislation, case law, theses, journals, books and policy documents.</p>

Companies are faced with challenges constraining the achievement of set budgets, goals, profit and cost of product, to name a few, on a daily basis. These challenges influence value creation and sustainable value creation. Value-based management is an integrated management tool which may assist in achieving sustainable value creation within a company. Achieving sustainable value creation will result in benefits for both the shareholders and the various stakeholders. In 2008 and 2009 Eskom, South Africa’s sole electricity provider announced a major shortage of electricity and consequently major price increases. Since electricity consumption is a crucial part of the production process, this announcement had a devastating effect on mining companies. The primary objective of the current study is to investigate whether a local mining company is focusing on applicable endeavours to overcome the electricity constraint and price hikes in order to sustain value creation. This was done by studying the company’s financial & management reports, public announcements and media coverage, in conjunction with a quantitative study, collecting primary data by using standardised questionnaires distributed among the mining company’s employees. The results from this study indicate that the selected company is focusing on relevant projects to overcome the electricity constraints. Further, the conclusion made from the results of the questionnaires shows that the higher staff levels are more informed and aware of value-based management. It also points out that the lower levels and employees from the production and mining departments are less informed and aware of value-based management. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

D.Phil. (Engineering Management) / Women play a major role in the society as caregivers, communicators and providers. Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) help to co-ordinate some aspects of rural women’s life, and their future rural economy will be information and knowledge-driven one. Rural women’s participation in decision-making and contribution to the male-dominated ICT environment are of growing importance. This research will guide us to rethink how rural women’s use of ICTs can provide them more opportunities and improve their quality of life. In this research we analyze what constitutes rural women empowerment through the use of ICTs, and provide an overview of empowerment indicators. This research will focus on the provisioning of ICT in rural areas in South Africa and women’s inherent abilities to contribute to the socio-economic status of households using ICTs. The aim of this research is to address the gendered digital divide and empower rural women in South Africa through the use of ICT. If rural women are given the opportunity for capacity building, ICT training and development they will be ready to take the ICT leap in the coming years. The research highlights gender-sensitive issues such as feminisms and women’s development through ICTs. The qualities of the empowered women and the elements of rural women empowerment through the use of ICTs are elaborated. The discussions on various data collection methods suited for feminist research and specifically for ICT for women’s development (ICT4WD) research is presented. The theories, paradigms and African belief systems underpinning women empowerment are carefully analyzed. The research reveals ICT projects used to empower women in many developing countries and throws light on shortcomings of the South African legal frameworks that have implications on rural women empowerment. A theoretical framework is developed for rural women empowerment though the use of ICTs. The framework serves as a guiding principle to revisit the SA B-BBEE legal framework and BEE ICT score-card. Some light will be thrown on the plight of rural women in South Africa and various challenges they face to use and access ICT. We believe this research paves the way to critically think about women’s issues and how to empower the disempowered rural women living in South Africa through ICTs. The research focuses on the effective strategies, through the framework that would contribute to empower the disempowered rural women in South Africa through ICTs.

Due to South Africa's history of apartheid the current regime have implemented the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy to rectify the discrimination against previously disadvantaged groups. The BEE policy gives incentives for companies to hire non-whites in higher positions, like management, and the ambition with this is to create equality. With a qualitative research method and using an abductive approach this study research how South African SMMEs are influenced by the BEE policy when they internationalize. This study concludes that South African SMMEs are differently influenced by the BEE policy when they internationalize. Furthermore, this research shows that the impact is highly dependent on the business owners ethnicity. The influence the BEE policy had on black owned business was predominantly positive. However, the effect the BEE policy had on white owned businesses was more complex. As far as this research shows, the influence the BEE policy had on SMMEs when they internationalize are an extension of how the BEE policy influenced them in the domestic market. The authors recommendation is that the relationship between BEE and internationalization is further investigated and that this study is complemented with a quantitative research.

Magister Legum - LLM / Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) has been a topic of discussion since the dawn of democracy in April 1994. Due to the entrenched inequalities of the past, economic empowerment is very important for the economic growth of the majority of South Africa’s citizens. However, significant economic enrichment of black people has not been made, despite, economic success, legislation, state policies and programme interventions. This economic growth is to be realised through the use of preferential procurement as a policy tool for BEE. Whilst sufficient legislation has been enacted to regulate preferential procurement, to favour black people, much still seems to be lacking in the enforcement of the laws in public procurement. Central to the challenges of preferential procurement is the disharmony between the Framework legislation governing preferential procurement and BEE. This discord has seen two visions being followed for preferential procurement; the Procurement Act refers to the beneficiaries of BEE as historically disadvantaged individuals (HDI; s) and the goals for BEE are measured through specific goals which promotes narrow empowerment; the BBBEE Act on the other hand defines black people as the recipients of BEE and through the BEE Codes broad-based empowerment is promoted through seven core elements. This congruency has not served the promotion of preferential procurement, it has created a hindrance that frustrates economic growth for those it is intended. The other quandary that undermines the success of preferential procurement is willful practices engaged by both tenderers and public officials; skills deficiency in the adjudication of tenders and self-interest. The success of BEE through preferential procurement is dependent on a coherently legislated procurement environment fortified by perceptive public officials. The objective of this thesis is to analyse the impact of these challenges on the success of preferential procurement. The study will highlight the main practices that defeat the use of preferential procurement. This will include an analysis of the various legislation and the amendments thereto. In addition the enquiry will examine the proficiency of public officials in the adjudication of public tendering. Recommendations for a successful preferential public procurement environment will be made. The proposed thesis will utilise, inter alia, relevant legislation, case law, theses, journals, books and policy documents. / South Africa

Magister Commercii - MCom / Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a growth strategy implemented by the South African government to address one of the country’s largest challenges, inequality. However, the failure rate of BEE ventures in the wine industry, and the agricultural sector in general, has been very high. The South African wine industry dates back to the early 1800s, and provides an interesting context to study four cases of relatively new business ventures established since the 1990s. There is limited research that explicitly examines the relationship between the changes after liberalisation and the forms of black entry into the South African wine industry. The purpose of this research is, firstly, to investigate the business models used by selected BEE ventures, in order to identify how they contribute to business success. The Osterwalder business model is utilised as a framework to investigate the business models of four BEE business ventures, namely Solms-Delta, Thokozani, M’Hudi and Seven Sisters. Secondly, the paper seeks to establish how ownership structure influences success. To explore this influence, two cases studied are 100% black owned and two cases are joint ventures between black and white owners directly involved in the business. The present study indicates that BEE ventures in the South African wine industry face many challenges but are not necessarily unsuccessful. Findings of the present study are limited to the research sample only. Other empowerment transactions could be used for future investigation.

M.Tech. / There is currently a lot of research work being done to gain insight into the value proposition for IT governance frameworks and different other variables that have significant bearing on successful implementation of IT governance in South African organizations. There has however been no adequate research conducted on how Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy and more specifically the four significant elements of the BEE scorecard (ownership, preferential procurement, skills development and management and control) affect IT governance within South African Enterprises. The study explores BEE policy as a means of redressing past inequalities and then presents BEE challenges that influence IT governance implementation. A broad outline of the research and a conceptual framework that will assist in monitoring the effectiveness of these four elements of the BEE scorecard towards IT governance implementation are presented. The study aims at giving an improved understanding and insights about the strength of the relationship between these two variables (BEE scorecard and IT governance), both of which have a bearing on the success of businesses operating in South Africa as a third variable. Kaplan and Norton„s balanced scorecard is used to measure business success (organization performance). The adopted method of data gathering was quantitative research with extensive use of questionnaires that targeted IT professionals and practitioners closely affiliated with BEE initiatives. The findings show a weak association between BEE and successful IT governance implementation. The results also reveal IT governance maturity has advanced to well-managed level 4.The human capital and diversity in the IT workforce lag behind in progress as a result of inadequate adherence to BEE metrics. There was a strong relationship between organization performance and BEE metrics, and a very weak link between IT governance and organization performance. It is envisaged that the resulting framework arising out of this work will form a foundation for other scholars and practitioners in the IT governance field to expand on gained knowledge, espousing the creation of a compressive IT framework that does not only focus on management tools and frameworks for IT governance efficiency but embraces the social dimensions of IT governance that may inhibit or enable IT governance effectiveness.