After a year of discussions, the ICT empowerment charter working group and multinational ICT companies in SA last night reached an agreement on controversial issues in the draft empowerment charter.
Empowerment charter working group chairman Dali Mpofu told a media briefing in Rosebank this morning: "There will be no blanket exemptions for any organisation from the requirement to comply with equity provisions and targets contained in the charter."
However, he said consideration would be given - under specific circumstances - to applications from certain companies for exemption from these requirements. He said both the empowerment charter working group and the American Chamber of Commerce are satisfied with the agreement.
A stumbling block in passing the fourth draft of the empowerment charter for the ICT industry has been the question of whether multinationals will be subject to the same equity rules as local companies. A fourth draft was scheduled for release at the end of July.
Last month, a group of ICT multinationals in SA, represented by the American Chamber of Commerce, submitted a joint proposal to the committee set up to discuss challenges posed to foreign companies by the ICT empowerment charter. Multinationals had suggested equity equivalents such as skills development or partnerships be applied to them, instead of points allocated purely for black equity ownership.
The committee, comprising CEOs from a number of multinationals, representatives from the empowerment charter working group, the chamber, the Black IT Forum and the SA Communications Forum, analysed the submission and discussed issues with stakeholders.
Speaking at this morning`s media briefing, communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said she was happy with the progress made in the matter, and that government would still like to meet the multinationals to ensure there was complete clarity on the equity issue and no potential for conflict later.
She expressed the hope that SA would see the completion of the fourth draft of the empowerment charter by the end of this month.
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