For a business below the turnover threshold, a sworn affidavit is the whole of your B-BBEE compliance. No verification agency, no certificate, no fee beyond the commissioning.
Plenty of small business owners do not know this and pay somebody for something they could have done in half an hour.
What it states
Broadly: that the business's annual turnover falls below the threshold, what percentage is black owned, and the resulting level. There is a standard form of wording, and using the prescribed format matters — a home-made letter is not the same thing and customers' compliance departments will reject it.
Confirm the current prescribed format rather than reusing one from several years ago; the wording has been revised.
Getting it commissioned
It must be sworn before a commissioner of oaths. Police stations do this at no charge, as do many attorneys, and the whole exercise takes as long as the queue.
Take identity documents and the completed affidavit. Do not sign it beforehand — you sign in front of the commissioner, which is the entire point.
It is a sworn statement
Worth stating plainly: you are swearing to the turnover and the ownership. Overstating black ownership to obtain a better level is fronting, it is unlawful, and the consequences are serious for the business and for the person who signed.
If the ownership position is genuinely complicated — trusts, multiple shareholders, changes during the year — get advice rather than approximating on a sworn document.
Keep it current and keep it to hand
Valid for a year from signature. Diarise the renewal with your other annual compliance items, because it will be requested at short notice and an expired one is worth nothing.
Keep a scanned copy in the same folder as your tax compliance PIN, your CIPC documents and your Compensation Fund letter. That set of documents is what every supplier application asks for.
When you outgrow it
Once turnover passes the threshold you move into a different category, with a reduced scorecard rather than an affidavit, and eventually into full verification.
Watch for it rather than being told by a customer. A business that has grown past the threshold and is still presenting an affidavit is presenting something that no longer applies to it, and it will be rejected at exactly the moment it matters.
General guidance, not legal or B-BBEE advice. Thresholds, prescribed wording and codes change; confirm the current requirements.