Multinational equity ownership came to the fore at the start of the ICT empowerment indaba at Vodaworld today, with the announcement that the US Chamber of Commerce is to mediate between multinationals and the ICT empowerment charter working group.
During his opening address, Dali Mpofu, chairman of the charter working group, said he did not want the one-day indaba to be dominated by the equity issue, which would be resolved with the US Chamber of Commerce stepping in to mediate.
"I have always said that it is my opinion that procurement, enterprise development and skills development are the most important issues within the scorecard, because they are where the jobs will be created. Those issues should get the attention they deserve," he said.
We are not interested in the views of people who have been rejected by the voters of SA.
Dali Mpofu, chairman, ICT charter working group
Mpofu said newspaper reports had misrepresented the multinational equity ownership issue, leading the industry to believe that other components of the scorecard cannot be used to bolster BEE status.
"This is not true. A company will be classified as empowered if it attains 50 points on the scorecard, however those points are assigned."
Mpofu assured delegates that the working group would not be drawn into debates in the media and also criticised the Democratic Alliance (DA) for commenting on the process.
The DA said on Tuesday that the draft ICT empowerment charter needed substantial changes to prevent significant additional costs to foreign investments in SA. The DA said it had been calculated that the transfer of 25% of the listed technology groups alone would cost around R3.7 billion, with 25% of Microsoft SA worth R500 million. The party added that there was a lack of black investors to take up the 25% of ownership in these companies in the next five years.
"The DA has commented on the value of what 25% of Microsoft shares would cost, but we are not interested in the views of people who have been rejected by the voters of SA," Mpofu said angrily at this morning`s indaba.
The equity debate
Mpofu confirmed that there would be no exclusions on any of the components, including the equity issue.
He noted that the US Chamber of Commerce, at the request of a number of multinationals, has asked to mediate between the working group and the multinationals to find a solution. Mpofu said the working group has agreed to the request and the meeting will take place after the cut-off date for submissions on 24 May.
"We state in the third draft of the charter that we are prepared to negotiate with the multinationals on the issue, and we are even prepared to enlist government`s help in talking to the multinationals` principals overseas."
He reiterated that the working group is not opposed to allowing more time if it is needed and it has not cast 25 June in stone as the release date of the final draft of the charter. "If more time is needed, we will give it."
State-owned enterprises
Communications minister Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, who also addressed the indaba, criticised the media`s take on the process of formulating the ICT charter, saying she hoped that in future, "the media will get it right more often than not".
The minister said there must be more urgency in the process and again called on all parties to participate in forming a charter to bridge the digital divide.
While Matsepe-Casaburri did not comment on the content of the third draft to any great degree, she asked for a re-look at the blanket exclusion of state-owned enterprises as non-BEE.
Working group member Adrian Schofield said this would be a key discussion in the breakaway sessions later this afternoon, because it still had to be decided whether government should be classified as a BEE "company".
The indaba will split into four breakaway sessions this afternoon to discuss equity and management, employment equity and skills development, preferential procurement and enterprise development, and the residual category.
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