The B-BBEE 2026 review corporates need before the festive shutdown is not a list of headlines. It is a test of what each development does to next year’s scorecard, budget and tender book, measured against the framework set out in our master guide to empowerment in South Africa.
The past twelve months were busier than most boards expected. The dtic proposed the largest rewrite of enterprise and supplier development since 2013. The Constitutional Court threw out the procurement law that was meant to replace the old preference framework. Employment equity targets survived a run of court challenges, and the Commission’s capacity problems were aired in public.
This guide separates what changed from what was only proposed, then turns it into a year-end checklist and a plan for your next measurement period. Every date below was checked against the public record in October, at the time of writing.
Quick Answer
The B-BBEE 2026 review corporates should run this quarter covers four developments. Draft amendments to the Codes, gazetted on 29 January, propose a Transformation Fund that would earn 20 points for 3% of net profit after tax, and would cut the points for 51% black-owned suppliers from 11 to 3. At the time of writing they remain drafts. On 17 September the Constitutional Court struck down the Public Procurement Act, so the PPPFA and its 2022 regulations still govern tenders. Employment equity sector targets stand, and the Commission is rebuilding its investigation capacity.
Closing your books in February and unsure which of these changes touch your next certificate? Book a short call to separate the urgent from the noise →
The Year in Five Dates
Before the detail, here is the sequence. Each of these events shapes a different part of the plan for the coming measurement period.
| When | What happened | Position at the time of writing |
|---|---|---|
| 29 January | Draft amendments to six parts of the Codes published in Government Gazette 54032 | Comments closed on 30 March; no final version seen |
| March | Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court refuse leave to appeal against the employment equity sector targets | Targets apply; a wider legal challenge is still pending |
| 16 April | National Treasury publishes draft General Public Procurement Regulations | Comment period extended to 15 July, then overtaken by the court ruling |
| April | Press reports on the Commission’s shortage of investigators | Dedicated investigators increased from two to nine |
| 17 September | Constitutional Court declares the Public Procurement Act invalid | The PPPFA and its 2022 regulations remain in force |
Draft Codes First: The B-BBEE 2026 Review Corporates Should Start With
On 29 January the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, published draft amendments to six parts of the Codes of Good Practice. The package covers Statement 000 on general principles, Statement 004 on specialised enterprises, Statement 103 on multinationals’ equity equivalents, Statement 400 on enterprise and supplier development, the QSE code series and the Schedule 1 definitions.
Most of the weight sits in Statement 400. If the drafts are finalised as published, three proposals will matter to any measured entity with turnover above R50 million. Our guide to the amended Codes of Good Practice sets out the current rules these drafts would change.
A pooled alternative to your own programmes. A measured entity could contribute 3% of net profit after tax to a central Transformation Fund and earn 20 points. Today the same money earns up to 15 points through supplier development, at 2% of profit for 10 points, and enterprise development, at 1% for 5 points. The spend stays at 3%. What changes is who decides where it goes.
A sharper procurement test. The line for suppliers that are 51% to 99% black-owned would fall from 11 points to 3, and its target from 50% to 25% of total measured procurement spend. A new line would award 7 points for spending 25% with suppliers that are 100% black-owned. Separate 15% targets would apply to fully black-owned QSEs and EMEs, and a 100% black women-owned line would carry 3 points.
Proof of impact before points. Supplier development, enterprise development and Fund contributions would each need to be informed by a needs analysis. The drafts also call for an annual monitoring and evaluation report, which must be verified before any points are recognised. For many groups this is the real workload, because few ESD files today hold anything like it.
Where the Transformation Fund stands
The Fund predates the drafts. The dtic released a concept document for comment in March 2025, describing a vehicle that would pool R100 billion over the term of the current administration, run through a special purpose vehicle that reports to an oversight committee. In February, Daily Maverick reported that a planned launch had been called off in late January, and described an initial capital target of about R20 billion.
Pushback has been loud. NEASA, the employers’ association, publicly rejected the Fund in its submission, and IRR Legal urged the Minister to scrap the drafts. The drafts as published also set out no transitional period. At the time of writing we have not seen a final version gazetted, so verifications continue under the 2013 Codes as revised in 2019.
Plan for the drafts without betting on them
Nothing in the January drafts applies to a verification today. But a final notice with no transition could land halfway through your next measurement period. The prudent position is to build an ESD file that would pass the proposed needs-analysis test anyway, and to know your spend with fully black-owned suppliers before anyone forces you to measure it.
Why waiting for the Fund is a weak budget plan
Some finance teams have paused ESD commitments until the Fund’s rules are clear. That is understandable, and usually a mistake. Points are earned on spend inside the measurement period. A year with no supplier development activity, because the board was waiting for a vehicle that does not yet exist in the Codes, will fail the priority-element sub-minimum, and a one-level discount follows.
The better course is to keep current programmes running, tighten their documentation, and give the board a short decision paper on the Fund. Our enterprise and supplier development guide explains how today’s targets are measured, which is the baseline any comparison should start from.
Procurement After the Court Ruling: The B-BBEE 2026 Review Corporates Cannot Skip
For two years, bid teams were told that the Public Procurement Act would replace the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act. The new Act was signed into law in July 2024 but never came into operation, because its regulations were still being drafted. National Treasury published the draft General Public Procurement Regulations on 16 April and later extended the comment deadline to 15 July.
Then, on 17 September, the Constitutional Court declared the whole Act invalid. The unanimous judgment found that Parliament had failed to facilitate meaningful public participation. A central failure was the preferential procurement chapter, which was rewritten late in the process without a further round of public comment. The court did not suspend its declaration of invalidity.
The practical result is that nothing changed for bidders, and that is the message to send internally. Tenders are still scored under the PPPFA and the 2022 Preferential Procurement Regulations: the 80/20 system for tenders up to R50 million and 90/10 above it. Many organs of state still use contributor levels or ownership measures as their specific goals, so your certificate keeps its commercial value.
What did change is the timetable. Any new procurement statute must now start again with a proper consultation process, and the draft regulations have no parent Act. If your tender forecasts assumed a new preference regime within the next year or two, take that assumption out.
Your own buying is a separate question, scored by the Codes rather than by tender rules. Our explanation of how preferential procurement points work covers the current targets, which are the ones the January drafts would rebalance.
Want to know what the proposed procurement lines would do to your current supplier base? Send us your spend split and we will model it with you →
Did the Commission Get Tougher This Year?
Not as quickly as some expected. In April the Sunday Times reported that the B-BBEE Commission had only two dedicated investigators in its 2024/25 year, since increased to nine, supported by officials seconded from the dtic and by private investigators for the backlog. The same report described a regulation requiring investigations to be finalised within a year of a complaint, which the Commission says lets some entities avoid findings.
Read that carefully before drawing comfort from it. A capacity problem is not an amnesty. The Act still treats fronting as a criminal offence, with fines of up to 10% of annual turnover, and any major transaction worth R25 million or more must still be registered with the Commission. Investigator numbers are rising, not falling.
For a year-end file, the lesson is direct. Any ownership deal, share scheme or supplier arrangement that would embarrass you in an investigation should be corrected now, while you still control the timetable.
Employment Equity Targets Now Sit Beside the Scorecard
The Employment Equity Amendment Act took effect on 1 January 2025, and five-year numerical targets for 18 economic sectors followed in April 2025. NEASA and Sakeliga tried to stop them. The Gauteng High Court dismissed their urgent application in August 2025, and in March this year the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court both refused leave to appeal. A broader challenge is still pending.
For designated employers, the current reporting window opened on 1 September and closes on 15 January. That timing overlaps with year-end planning, which is useful, because the management control and skills development elements draw on the same workforce data. Our overview of the five scorecard elements shows where those overlaps sit.
What Did Not Change, and Why That Matters
Amid the noise, the core of the system stood still. The 2013 Codes, as revised in 2019, still set the generic scorecard. The R10 million and R50 million thresholds for EMEs and QSEs did not move. Certificates still expire 12 months after issue. And the YES initiative still lets a measured entity that meets its youth employment target move up one or two levels.
Sector codes drew less attention this year, but they face a quieter question. If the generic ESD proposals are finalised, each sector council will need to decide whether and when its own code follows. Companies measured under a sector code should confirm the gazetted text that applies to them, and our sector codes guide is a sensible place to begin.
A Year-End Checklist for the B-BBEE 2026 Review Corporates Should Run
This checklist suits a measured entity with turnover above R50 million and a measurement period that ends within the next six months. Work through it with finance, procurement, HR and the transformation lead in the same room, because most items need two of them to agree.
Confirm your measurement period and verification date. Count back from your certificate’s expiry date. If it lapses in March, the agency’s fieldwork will start in January, and missing evidence must be found before the holidays. Our certificate guide sets out what the agency will expect to see.
Rebuild the ESD file to the draft standard. For each programme, write a one-page needs analysis, set two or three measurable outcomes and record progress quarterly. It costs little now and protects you whatever is finally gazetted.
Split supplier spend by ownership band. Report spend with 51% to 99% black-owned suppliers separately from spend with fully black-owned suppliers, and track black women-owned spend on its own line. If the drafts become final, this is the number that moves your procurement score most.
Chase lapsed supplier certificates. Spend with a supplier whose certificate or affidavit has expired earns nothing. December is the month suppliers are hardest to reach, so send the requests in November.
Test every deal against the Commission’s reach. List the ownership transactions, share schemes and supplier arrangements entered this year. Confirm that any major transaction was registered and that control sits where the ownership sits.
Align the employment equity plan with skills spend. Use one workforce data set for the EE report and for the management control and skills development elements. Figures that disagree across the two documents are an easy finding for any verifier.
Reset tender assumptions. Take the invalidated Act out of bid planning, keep pricing models on the 80/20 and 90/10 systems, and check the specific goals in each tender you target.
Write the board paper on the Fund. One page is enough: what the drafts propose, what a switch would cost compared with your current programmes, and the trigger that would make you change course.
Next Year’s Plan, Built Backwards From the Measurement Date
A good plan starts at the end. Pick the date your next certificate must be in hand, then work backwards in quarters. Our scorecard improvement guide covers the element-by-element levers; this is the calendar that holds them together.
The opening quarter. Approve the ESD budget with a needs analysis behind each line. Sign supplier development agreements early, because spend in month eleven looks like a scramble to a verifier. Clean the supplier master file so every vendor carries an ownership band and a valid certificate date.
The second quarter. Run a mid-year scorecard forecast using actual spend, not budget. If an element is heading below its sub-minimum, this is the last comfortable point to fix it. Revisit the Fund decision if a final notice has been gazetted by then.
The third quarter. Complete learnerships and bursary payments so they fall inside the period. Prepare EE data for the reporting window that opens on 1 September. If the forecast shows you sitting between two levels, our contributor levels guide explains what each step is worth in procurement recognition.
The closing quarter. Assemble the evidence pack, run a pre-verification test on the weakest element, and take the forecast level to the board for sign-off before the agency arrives.
The measurement date sets the calendar, not the gazette
Policy news arrives on the government’s timetable. Points are earned on yours. A company that plans backwards from its own measurement date can absorb a final notice whenever it lands, because the evidence, the supplier data and the budget decisions are already in place.
What a Year-End Look-Back Changes: An Illustrative Composite
The figures below are an illustrative composite drawn from typical mid-sized mandates in Gauteng, not a single client. The company has annual turnover of about R900 million, net profit after tax of roughly R70 million and a February year-end.
| Measure | Before the year-end look-back | After the year-end look-back |
|---|---|---|
| ESD spend | R2.1 million spread across 14 small grants | R2.1 million in three programmes, each with a needs analysis |
| Spend with fully black-owned suppliers | Not measured separately | Tracked monthly at 17% of measured spend |
| Supplier certificates current at year-end | 71% of active suppliers | 96% of active suppliers |
| Tender planning | Bid team preparing for the new Act | Bids priced on the 2022 regulations |
| EE and scorecard data | Two inconsistent workforce data sets | One reconciled data set |
| Forecast level | Level 4, supplier development sub-minimum at risk | Level 2, all sub-minimums met |
The total ESD budget did not change. The company redirected the same R2.1 million into fewer, better-documented programmes, and lifted certificate coverage so that spend it was already making counted in full. Most of the level gain came from clearing the sub-minimum risk and from recognising procurement it had been under-claiming.
Who This Is NOT For
Companies with fieldwork starting next week. If the verification agency is already on its way, there is no time for a strategic look-back. Fix the evidence file first and plan after the certificate is issued.
Boards that want a prediction of the final Codes. Nobody outside the dtic can promise what will be gazetted or when. This exercise plans for a range of outcomes; it does not forecast one.
Fully black-owned small enterprises on an affidavit. A QSE or EME that qualifies through a sworn affidavit has little to gain from a full year-end exercise. Renewing the affidavit on time is the main task.
Teams looking for a news summary. If the goal is a briefing note for the intranet, a law firm’s update will do. This process exists to produce decisions, budgets and owners.
Who this does suit: groups with turnover above R50 million, a measurement period ending in the next six months, meaningful ESD budgets or public-sector tender exposure, and a board that wants to know what this year’s developments will cost before they cost anything.
How Insignis Turns the Year’s Lessons Into Next Year’s Plan
We start with your last certificate and your next measurement date, not with the news. Every development of the past year gets the same three questions: does it apply to us yet, what would it change on our scorecard, and what must we do before the agency arrives? Anything that fails the first question goes on a watch list, not into the budget.
From there we rebuild the ESD file to the proposed needs-analysis standard, split supplier spend by ownership band, reconcile the workforce data used for employment equity and the scorecard, and model the Transformation Fund against your current programmes. The result is a dated plan with an owner for every line.
Because the plan must survive both a verification audit and a board challenge, we build it with the discipline of a financial year-end close. Our compliance strategy development team then supports the work quarter by quarter until the certificate is issued.
If you want to read the main proposal in full, the dtic has published the draft enterprise and supplier development statement with its proposed points and targets.
Ready to turn this year’s developments into next year’s budget? Set up a planning conversation before the holidays →
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the draft amendments to the Codes in force yet?
No. They were published for comment in Government Gazette 54032 on 29 January, and comments closed on 30 March. At the time of writing no final version has been gazetted, so verifications still follow the 2013 Codes as revised in 2019.
Does the Constitutional Court ruling change how tenders are scored?
Not in the short term. The Public Procurement Act never came into operation, so organs of state still apply the PPPFA and the 2022 regulations, with the 80/20 system up to R50 million and 90/10 above it. The ruling mainly delays any new preference regime.
Should we pause our own ESD programmes until the Transformation Fund is running?
We would not. Points are earned on spend within the measurement period, and a pause risks missing the priority-element sub-minimum and losing a level. Keep programmes running, document them to the proposed needs-analysis standard, and decide on the Fund once final rules exist.
What would the needs analysis requirement mean in practice?
Each supplier development, enterprise development or Fund contribution would need a documented reason: what the beneficiary needs, what the support will change and how progress will be measured. An annual monitoring and evaluation report would then need to be verified before points are recognised.
When should we start planning the next measurement period?
Now, if your financial year ends in February or March. Budgets, supplier data and ESD agreements set in the opening quarter decide most of the final score, and the evidence must exist before the verification agency asks for it.
How do employment equity targets affect the scorecard?
They fall under separate legislation, but they draw on the same workforce data as management control and skills development. Using one consistent data set for the EE report and the scorecard avoids contradictions that a verifier or a labour inspector could pick up.
Close the year with a plan, not a pile of headlines
A year-end scorecard review session takes your current certificate, your next measurement date and this year’s developments, and turns them into a dated plan. You leave with a list of evidence gaps, your supplier spend split by ownership band, a view on the Transformation Fund and a forecast level for the board.
No obligation. We will get back to you within 24 hours.
Book a year-end scorecard session
Dr. Este Welman, CA(SA)
Founding Partner, Insignis Solutions
Dr. Welman is a Chartered Accountant holding a PhD in Economic Transformation from the Da Vinci Institute, an M.Comm in Tax from North-West University, and a B-BBEE Management Diploma from Wits. She closes each year the way an auditor closes a file: what changed, what it will cost, and what must happen before the next measurement date.