JSE-listed companies have only 38% representation by black people on their boards, with males accounting for 20% and females accounting for 18%, a report produced by the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Commission on the national status and trends on BBBEE transformation for 2017 shows.
The report also shows a decline of 5.57% in black male ownership and 1.96% in black female ownership, compared with the 2016 edition of the report.
To improve this, the commission calls on government and the private sector to increase procurement from businesses that are at least 30% black women-owned, and to provide financial assistance, for example through incentive schemes such as the black industrialist incentive programme of the Department of Trade and Industry.
The report researched 121 JSE-listed companies and four State-owned entities.
The analysis was based on data submitted for BBBEE certificates, which is captured by verification agencies on the BBBEE certificates portal system.
“We expect the pace of transformation to improve going forward given the recorded 65% increase in the requests for advice from the BBBEE Commission in the 2017/18 financial year, and also improvement in the submission of compliance reports after the JSE made BBBEE reporting a listing requirement, which has helped improve the reporting in 2018 already,” said commissioner Zodwa Ntuli.