What is a BEE affidavit, and do you need a certificate?

A small business wins a tender enquiry, is asked for its BEE certificate, and phones a consultant who quotes several thousand rands and a few weeks.

For most small businesses, none of that is necessary. The document required is one page, it is sworn in front of a Commissioner of Oaths at a police station or a post office, and it costs nothing.

The affidavit route

The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003 and the Amended Codes of Good Practice create a simplified route for small enterprises. Instead of a verification exercise by an accredited agency producing a certificate, the enterprise proves its status by sworn affidavit.

Exempted Micro Enterprises (EMEs). Annual total revenue of R10 million or less. An EME is exempt from measurement under the scorecard and proves its status by affidavit.

Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSEs). Annual total revenue above R10 million and below R50 million. A QSE that is at least 51% black owned may also use an affidavit. Other QSEs generally need accredited verification, because they are measured on a scorecard.

Generic enterprises. Above R50 million. Full scorecard, accredited verification.

So the question "do I need a certificate" is answered mostly by your turnover, and for a large proportion of South African businesses the answer is no.

The automatic levels

For enterprises using the affidavit route, the level follows from black ownership alone, without any scorecard:

That is the whole calculation. A start-up with two white shareholders and R400 000 of turnover is a level 4 contributor, by affidavit, with no scorecard and no consultant.

This is worth stating plainly because a lot of small business owners believe they have no BEE status at all and therefore cannot tender. They do have one.

What goes in the affidavit

The affidavit is short and the content is prescribed in substance. It must state:

• the name and registration number of the enterprise
• that the annual total revenue is within the relevant threshold
• the percentage of black ownership
• where relevant, black women ownership and other ownership details
• that the enterprise is an EME or a qualifying QSE as the case may be
• confirmation that the information is true

And then the mechanics that people get wrong:

It must be sworn before a Commissioner of Oaths. Not merely signed, and not certified. A Commissioner of Oaths administers an oath and stamps accordingly. Police stations, post offices and many attorneys can do it.

The deponent must be authorised to depose on behalf of the enterprise: the owner, a director, or somebody duly authorised.

It is dated, and organisations generally expect one issued within the last twelve months.

The figures must be true. This is a sworn statement, which is why the fronting section below matters.

Templates are widely available, including from the B-BBEE Commission. Use a current one rather than a version somebody emailed you in 2019.

Sector codes override this

The most common way businesses get this wrong, and it is not obvious.

Several sectors have their own sector codes gazetted under the Act, including construction, tourism, agriculture, information and communication technology, property, financial services, transport, forestry and others. A sector code applies to businesses in that sector in place of the generic codes.

Sector codes can differ on the thresholds, on the scorecard elements and on the weightings. A turnover figure that makes you an EME under the generic codes may not do so under your sector code.

So before relying on any figure on this page: identify whether your sector has its own code, and read that code's thresholds. If you are in construction or tourism in particular, assume the generic figures do not apply to you until you have checked.

Fronting is an offence

Because the affidavit is a sworn statement about ownership, it is worth being blunt about the risk of arranging ownership on paper that does not reflect reality.

Fronting is a criminal offence under the Act. It covers arrangements that misrepresent or improperly implement black economic empowerment: a black shareholder with no real say, no real economic benefit or no genuine involvement; a nominee holding shares for somebody else; window-dressing an employee as an owner.

The consequences are serious and include a fine, imprisonment, and exclusion from doing business with the state for a period. A false affidavit is also a separate problem in its own right.

Practically, the arrangements that get businesses into trouble are the ones done quickly to win a specific tender: a shareholding transferred on paper with a side agreement that nothing really changes. That side agreement is the evidence.

Our guide on shareholders' agreements sets out how genuine shareholding is structured, and it is worth reading before restructuring ownership for any reason.

Who counts as black

Since the affidavit is a statement about ownership percentages, the definition matters, and it is narrower than everyday usage.

Under the Act and the Codes, "black people" is a defined generic term meaning Africans, Coloureds and Indians who are South African citizens by birth or descent, or who became citizens by naturalisation before 27 April 1994, or who became citizens by naturalisation after that date but who would have been entitled to acquire citizenship by naturalisation before it.

Two consequences that businesses get wrong.

Citizenship is part of the test. A shareholder who is a citizen of another country does not count towards black ownership, whatever else is true of them. This catches businesses with shareholders who hold permanent residence rather than citizenship.

The date qualification is real. The provision about naturalisation before 27 April 1994, and the limb dealing with those who would have qualified but for the policies of the time, exists precisely because citizenship was not equally available. If your shareholding depends on that limb, get advice rather than assuming.

Where the position is not obvious, resolve it before swearing to a percentage. The affidavit is made under oath.

When you grow past the threshold

The affidavit route is a function of turnover, and turnover changes.

Crossing R10 million. You cease to be an EME and become a QSE. If you are at least 51% black owned, the affidavit route generally remains available. If you are not, you move onto a scorecard and need accredited verification, which costs money and takes time.

Crossing R50 million. You become a generic enterprise, fully measured, verified annually.

The mistake is discovering this during a tender. A business that grew from R8 million to R14 million in a year, is not majority black owned, and has been submitting EME affidavits out of habit, will be found out by the first customer who reads the turnover figure against the financial statements.

Check your category each year when the financials are finalised, at the same time as the annual return and the VAT position. Three things, one sitting.

Where your level actually matters

Being realistic about this helps a small business decide how much to care.

State and public entity procurement. This is the main one. Preference point systems apply, and your level affects your points rather than your eligibility.

Large private customers. Corporates are themselves measured on enterprise and supplier development and on procurement from small black-owned suppliers, which is why they ask. A level 1 or level 2 EME is genuinely attractive to them for that reason.

Nothing else, for most businesses. There is no general legal obligation on a small private business to have a particular level. If you sell to the public and never tender, your affidavit may sit in a drawer.

Practical steps

Work out your total revenue for the last financial year, and be accurate. Our guide on VAT registration deals with the other turnover threshold that matters, which changed in 2026 and is measured differently.

Identify your sector code, if there is one.

Determine your black ownership percentage properly, on the actual shareholding.

Download a current template and complete it.

Have it sworn before a Commissioner of Oaths.

Diarise it annually, at year end, together with your other annual obligations. Our guide on registering a company with CIPC covers the annual return, which is the one that gets companies deregistered when it is forgotten.

Keep a scan of it where whoever answers tender enquiries can find it without asking you.

Worked example

This example is illustrative. A two-person design studio, a private company, turns over R2.4 million a year. Both shareholders are black South Africans, each holding 50%.

Turnover is under R10 million, so it is an EME. Black ownership is 100%, so it is a level 1 contributor. No scorecard, no verification agency, no fee.

One of the directors swears an affidavit before a Commissioner of Oaths at the post office stating the company name and registration number, that annual total revenue is under the threshold, and that the company is 100% black owned. That document is the company's entire BEE compliance position, and it is renewed each year.

Now change the sector. The same two people run a construction business instead. Construction has its own sector code, and the thresholds and requirements in that code apply in place of the generic ones. The affidavit route may still be available, but the figures and the wording come from the sector code rather than from this page, and using a generic affidavit in a sector with its own code is the mistake that gets a tender submission disqualified.

And the version that ends badly. The same design studio, but with two white shareholders and turnover of R2.4 million. It is a level 4 EME by affidavit, which is a perfectly respectable position. Instead, to improve its points for one tender, it transfers 51% to an employee with a written side agreement that she receives no dividends and has no vote. That is not a level 2 contributor. That is fronting, and the side agreement is the proof of it.