Empowerdex

Empowerdex is well known for publishing a ranking of JSE-listed companies which compares their performance across BEE metrics. Empowerdex first announced the ranking initiative in November 2002 and published the first list in March 2003.^[7][8] The following year, it partnered with the Financial Mail to publish the rankings in a special supplement of that newspaper as the Top Empowerment Companies index;^[9] the first annual edition, published in April 2004, named Telkom as South Africa's most empowered company and became the Financial Mail's top-selling issue of the year.^[10][11] In later years, Empowerdex compiled the rankings for the Mail & Guardian's Most Empowered Companies index and, most recently, for Sanlam's Transformation Gauge.^[12][13]

In March 2019, in testimony before the Zondo Commission, former Bosasa executive Angelo Agrizzi alleged that Bosasa – a prolific state contractor – had paid an Empowerdex employee R40,000 in exchange for favorable BEE ratings.^[14] Empowerdex said that it had no knowledge of such a bribe but had initiated an internal investigation.^[6] On 4 April 2019, the South African National Accreditation System suspended Empowerdex's BEE accreditation for three months, citing the firm's "failure to comply with some of the accreditation requirements."^[6][15] Empowerdex said that the suspension was linked to Agrizzi's testimony and that it had commissioned an independent forensic investigation.^[1][16] SANAS, however, said that there were prior complaints against the firm pertaining to the accuracy of its verification reports.^[16]

At the end of July 2019, Empowerdex reported that the suspension had been lifted in early July, that a SANAS investigation had identified "minor non-conformances," and that the independent investigation into Agrizzi's bribery allegations was ongoing.^[17][18]