Article provided by CIPC
The CIPC, since its inception, has been progressively offering a number of company-related services to its customers. One of the offerings is concerning the BEE certificate (i.e. Affidavit) that exempted micro enterprises can apply for, thanks to a collaboration between the CIPC and the dtic BEE Unit, which began in 2014. The BEE certification is offered at no cost to the CIPC customer.
Although a company with a turnover of less than R10 million (i.e. exempted micro enterprise) can compile an affidavit indicating its BEE status and shareholding as they are not required to produce a B-BBEE certificate, entrepreneurs tend to prefer a formal BEE certificate. Thus, the dtic and CIPC decided to collaborate in order to make it possible for Exempted Micro Enterprises to have such a formal document.
Only directors or members of entities are allowed to apply for B-BBEE certificates, no intermediaries. Once an application has been submitted, it cannot be amended. Changes will only be recorded when a customer applies for a new B-BBEE certificate after the current one expires. A BEE certificate registered via the CIPC is only valid for a year. Once it expires, a new application must be filed.
All directors or members’ contact details must be up to date as a unique One Time PIN (OTP) will be sent to each before an application can be concluded. Functionality to update director or member’s contact details is available on the CIPC eServices website.
Customers can apply for BEE certificate (i.e. Affidavit), as a stand-alone, whilst registering a private company or during the filing of an annual return. The service is open to customers with a South African ID document. The identity verification is done against the Department of Home Affairs population register.
Foreign nationals without a South African identity document can compile an affidavit, in line with the sample affidavit provided by the dtic, and present it to a Commissioner of Oaths for a signature. Once an affidavit has been signed and stamped by a Commissioner of Oaths, the Affidavit serves as a B-BBEE certificate.
The data captured for BEE certification is similar to that captured for company registration. The additional data captured in respect of BEE certificate is the level of black ownership shareholding (100%= level 1; at least 51%=level 2 and less than 51%=level 4), youth, persons with disability, military veterans and black women shareholding. Customers have to confirm the veracity of information captured on the system, under the terms and conditions of registration. Providing incorrect shareholder information is a criminal offence and it could lead to legal proceedings.
To date there has been more than 11 000 BEE Affidavits registered through the CIPC platforms.
The channels through which CIPC offers BEE registrations are the CIPC eService’s website, Bizportal, the CIPC Self Service Terminal (SSTs) located at its service centres in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town and through our collaborating partners in various parts of South Africa. The partners with their addresses are listed on the CIPC website.