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Black IT Forum backs ICT White Paper

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 17 Mar 2017
African black individuals and communities should benefit most from the new policy, says BITF.
African black individuals and communities should benefit most from the new policy, says BITF.

The Black Information Technology Forum (BITF) says it supports the National Integrated ICT Policy White Paper and its inclusive objectives.

"The BITF is committed to supporting the government in the implementation of the ICT policy and we commit ourselves to working closely with all stakeholders, to define and establish programmes and projects to take this sector and our country forward," the group says in a statement.

The White Paper, which was three years in the making, was finalised and published in September 2016. The new policy is supposed to replace the separate white papers on telecommunication (1996) and postal services (1998). It covers a wide range of policy for the ICT sector and makes a number of mentions of improving black economic empowerment in the industry.

The BITF says it was invited to present at two ministerial engagements on the White Paper and made suggestions as to who the beneficiaries of the ICT policy should be. It believes those who should benefit the most from the implementation of the policy are "those who have been predominantly marginalised, oppressed and disadvantaged by previous laws and policies".

This includes historically disadvantaged individuals and communities - in particular African black individuals and communities - as well as black women and youth. The BITF says others who should benefit include black-owned start-ups and SMMEs of level one BBBEE compliance, as well as "organisations that embrace societal transformation through their own internal transformation activities, to transform the workplace racial and gender construct as well as through their procurement strategies of empowerment".

It believes such companies should be 51% black South African-owned and no less than 51% South African black controlled, with 50% women representation. The group says it hopes the policy will support new entrants of South African black-owned consortiums, throughout the entire ICT value chain.

Inclusive participation

The BITF says it is "encouraging and promising" that the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) is driving inclusive participation through forums and in policy development and implementation. The forum says it is positive the DTPS encouraged widespread input and feedback on the ICT policy - from all industry players ranging from the large telecommunications organisations to the smallest SMMEs and NGOs.

"Needless to say that in the past there has been a general feeling that the voice of black people was not well represented in such discussions and as a result, black communities in ICT always found themselves responding, rather than contributing to such initiatives," the BITF adds.

"We are also aware there are certain interest groups who consider themselves more valuable/privileged in the ICT industry and they have tried to lobby the minister in exclusive engagements. However, we are satisfied and very pleased that the minister has insisted on an open and broad engagement model," the forum says.

This could be a reference to news that the DTPS received a joint-proposal from a group of six telecoms operators giving suggestions on the implementation of various aspects of the policy. The DTPS said while it was considering all suggestions on how to implement the policy, the "undertaking is not to renegotiate the ICT White Paper because the policy is final".

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