A Blog for One-Person Jewellers in South Africa with Gold Licence Problems

This blog is intended as a forum for one-person jewellers in South Africa can share their experiences with regard to getting gold licences.

We have until the middle of next year to apply for our gold licences, but it's not like it was in the old days... As most of us know, there is now a lengthy set of requirements to be fulfilled, including a demonstration of BEE Compliance.

As it I understand it, the requirement for BEE is being enforced at all levels, and micro-enterprises are not exempted from the requirement. Here is my question to the Licencing Officer, and the reply:

I am following up on my letter of Monday (below). My question is: What do one-person businesses have to do in order to get a jeweller's permit? If you don't have the answer, perhaps you could pass me on to someone who does.
_______________________

You have to complete the application forms send to you together with the required documents do the business plan according to the guidelines on compliance to the mining charter,tell us how are you going to empower your employees with the relevant jewellery skills within the five year period of the licence,mentorship plan, internship and bursary plans, employment equity break down the number of employees that are going to be employed and specify the years like 2008.1blk male just like that. Procument plans, ownership and joint venture equity shares is needed 15%, should be transferred to HDSA partner and specify which year that will be done. You should undertake to report on an annual basis your progress towards achieving the BEE program and there should be an undertaking to adhere to the BEE program.

This seems to means that white one-person businesses in the jewellery trade will have to comply or go over to silver only. It is much harder to make a living in silver than in gold, for the obvious reason that the return on an identical article is less in silver. In addition, those working in silver would have to turn away clients seeking wedding bands etc.

Compliance means 15% ownership by someone else, and they get 15% of your profit. Most of us would not be able to survive with 15% of our profit gone, so we'd have to increase our turnover - by employing staff. So, either we cut into our own productive time with admin and extra sales work (and we'd still have to find 2 salaries) or we get an administrator too, to take care of the mountain of paperwork involved in giving employment. But then there would be 2.5 or 3 salaries, so we'd need to expand premises and take on another two bench-workers and a salesperson to get enough throughput to cover all the wages (and put food on your own table). To say that the cost of doing so is beyond the resources of one-person jewellery enterprises is to state the obvious. Sure, some few of us may be able to borrow our way to compliance under this scenario, but most of us will not. Artist Jewellers will obviously not make it.

There are several issues here, so let's hear comments from everyone.

Let's also share any experiences that people have had with applying for permits, and what, if anything, a successful application looks like. Please click on 'comments' below to read/add a comment

Mike