On 7 October 2026, the High Court set aside the B-BBEE Legal Sector Code. The court found that the Minister failed to exercise the required independent judgement before publishing the Sector Code and did not exercise proper statutory discretion.

Among others, this code aimed to set unrealistic BEE ownership targets for law firms and sought to direct more work to black-owned law firms.

Although this judgment did not make a determination on the substantive nature of the Code, it does come after similar draconian legislation has been invalidated by the courts on similar and other technical grounds. These judgments exemplify the need for the South African government to strictly adhere to sound legislative processes and to ensure that proposed laws remain legally sound and socially inclusive.

NEASA remains steadfastly opposed to the BEE scheme wholly as applied in any sector, largely due to its evident failures.

NEASA firmly stands for a competitive, free-market dispensation where all businesses have autonomy and operate on the basis of merit and not through state-enforced redistribution or racial policy.

NEASA therefore welcomes this judgment.