No ICT charter crisis, says Mpofu

By Itumeleng Mogaki, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 17 Mar 2005

There is "no crisis" with the ICT charter and no need to rush the job, says former ICT empowerment charter working group chairman Dali Mpofu.

He was responding to yesterday`s media reports claiming delays and unresolved questions in the charter drafting process.

Mpofu, who has repeatedly expressed his confidence that the charter would be implemented on 1 March 2005, maintains there are no major problems in the charter process.

"There`s definitely no crisis, no derailment or starting afresh on a new charter. The steering committee needs to concentrate on reconciling all the views of the stakeholders," he says.

The final draft charter was handed over to the National Economic Development and Labour (Nedlac) in November to sort out outstanding issues, and was scheduled for implementation at the beginning of this month.

However, stakeholders have conceded that it has been delayed due to outstanding issues. They said yesterday they hope to Gazette the charter by mid-2005.

Mpofu says some people complain that the charter process is too fast while others criticise it for being too slow.

"We are not going to rush the implementation of the charter. It takes time to put together a charter that will satisfy everyone. Everything has to be done in a consensual manner.

"While we sympathise with everyone, especially small and medium enterprises who are the biggest punished, as their survival depends on the implementation of the charter, we cannot do a rush job," says Mpofu.

The steering committee met yesterday to resolve some of the outstanding issues, including that of governance and problems of "double jeopardy" for sectors that are already regulated by the Independent Communications Authority of SA. Mpofu says progress has been made, and agreement should be reached by the end of this month.

Asked about complaints from some of the industry players that the charter does not represent everyone in the industry, Mpofu says: "During the past 18 months of putting together the ICT charter, we invited everyone to give their input and everything was done openly. At the end of the day, not all will be satisfied."

Empowerdex MD and fellow charter steering committee member Vuyo Jack agrees with Mpofu, saying not everyone will agree with what is included in the charter, specifically those who made contributions, only to find that some of the issues affecting them were not addressed.

"The dissatisfaction expressed by some industry players is largely due to the fact they made contributions not addressed in the charter, yet again they find that the charter binds them to comply to the requirements that they do not necessarily agree with."

Jack says the charter has to impact everyone concerned to avoid people who will claim the charter does not directly address their issues fairly.

He believes the steering committee will resolve the outstanding issues, and says the charter will be ready in the coming few weeks.