No significant changes happened in the levels of transformation during 2018, with black ownership reflecting a decline to 25.2% last year, from 27% in 2017, and management control still sitting at 38% for black persons, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Commission said on Thursday.

This “worrying trend of noncompliance is . . . undermining the objectives of the BBBEE Act,” the commission added in a statement.

The commission’s yearly report on the national status and trends of BBBEE, also showed that only 43% of JSE-listed entities and 10% of the organs of State had submitted yearly compliance records in 2018, the majority of which failed to comply.

According to Section 13G of the BBBEE Act, it is compulsory for all JSE-listed entities, organs of State, public entities and sector education and training authorities (SETAs) to submit compliance reports on BBBEE to the commission.

Other results in the report showed that while black ownership was now at 25.2%, black women ownership stood at only 10.1%.

However, JSE-listed entities achieving at least BBBEE contribution level four have increased by 10.9%, compared with 2017. The analysis indicates that 50.9% of entities are now level four and higher, while 44.4% of entities are between level five and noncompliant status.

Fifty-nine per cent of organs of State that reported on their BBBEE were rated at between level two and level seven, while 41% were rated between level eight and noncompliant.

While the low level of reporting and the slow pace of improvement in BBBEE elements was of concern to the commission, it welcomed that BBBEE compliance was now a part of the audit scope of the Auditor-General and also that yearly BBBEE reporting was a listing requirement on the JSE.

Therefore, with these interventions and the enforcement action of the commission, reporting and the extent of BBBEE implementation was expected to improve, the commission said in a statement.