"We cannot expect to grow and develop as a country if the leadership of the economy is still in the hands of only a small minority of the society," he said.

According to a statement, Davies was speaking at the launch of the revised Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Codes of Good Practice in Midrand, Johannesburg.

"We need to make sure that in the country's economy, control, ownership and leadership are reflective of the demographics of the society in the same way the political space [is]," he said.

The revised codes were introduced to "plug the gaps" in the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act and related legislation.

These gaps included fronting, "tick-box" compliance, and the exorbitant amounts of money that small enterprises had to pay to consultants to prove they were BEE compliant.

The codes' scorecard had been revised, with five elements instead of seven.

"All companies, except the exempted micro enterprises should comply with all the elements of the scorecard. There is also some adjustment to the points allocated and the qualification criteria," said Davies.

Elements included ownership, skills development, and enterprise and supplier development.

The public had 60 days to submit comments on the codes before they were finalised.