ICT charter disputes shelved

Johannesburg, 26 Mar 2009

The ICT empowerment charter steering committee has resolved to shelve its differences and finalise work on the ICT charter. Following a meeting yesterday, the committee has reported it has “concluded its work, resolved issues and reached agreement”.

Norman Munzhelele, convener of the steering committee, says the proposed sector codes will be submitted to the Department of Trade Industry (DTI) by the end of March.

Following years of debates and delays, the committee is confident it has concluded work on the ICT sector codes of good practice and completed its broad-based black economic empowerment framework.

Previously, ITWeb reported divisions were running high within the committee, with Information Technology Association president Adam Rabie calling for a review of mandates and committee membership. While not addressing Rabie's comments directly, Munzhelele stated the committee would not consider mandate reviews as the content of the charter had previously received unanimous support from the industry.

“We have made huge progress and I can say the outcome is that we will move forward with the charter process.” He adds that the issues raised by the DTI have been answered fully and he “hopes they [DTI] are satisfied” with the proposed sector codes.

The draft proposal was previously sent back to the steering committee, with the DTI requesting economic rationales for its proposed ownership clause and additional information on social investment programmes. As a result, the sector codes were not gazetted - and the committee faced additional challenges as industry representatives failed to reach consensus on key issues.

Majority vote

Munzhelele notes that full consensus was not reached, but, instead, a majority rule decision was taken, as he felt the committee needed to focus solely on issues raised by the DTI. “We are working on the principle that the content [of the ICT charter] has been agreed on by all parties and we see no need in opening up old debates again,” he explains.

We have made huge progress and I can say the outcome is that we will move forward with the charter process.
Norman Munzhelele, convener, steering committee

He says the committee's role was to align the ICT charter with the codes of good practice adopted by the DTI. Three out of the four sub-sectors represented by the committee agreed on the next step for the process. He explains that the fourth represented sub-sector had a “different view on how the process should move forward and wanted to open up other issues agreed on already”.

According to Munzhelele, the sub-sector has been given an opportunity to come back with any recommendations before the document is submitted. The committee's decision will stand though and the sub-sector can use the representation period allowed for in the DTI's gazetting process to raise its concerns, he says.

The final draft charter will be submitted for consideration and publication as a sector Code of Good Practice, in terms of Section 9 of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003. The trade and industry minister will then publish the draft charter in the Government Gazette and allow the public a period of at least 60 days to comment.