Last Thursday, I had the privilege of participating in a reflective discussion on transformation or broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE). The event, organised by Sanlam Gauge in partnership with Sowetan's sister’s paper Sunday Times, was to launch a BBBEE scorecard report based on research conducted by research outfit Intellidex.

At the outset, we have to commend the organisers for the foresight of conducting such an exercise at this time – two years before we commemorate 20 years of a formal BBBEE framework and nine years before the review of the National Development Plan (NDP), our current blue-print...