More than six years since the first draft ICT charter was published for comment, industry is becoming annoyed with delays in getting the paper gazetted.
Andile Tlhoaele, deputy chairman of the ICT steering committee, says the matter is now with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and is awaiting the department's approval for gazetting.
However, in a harshly-worded e-mail sent to ITWeb and members of the committee, director of BEE Partnerships at the DTI Thabo Masombuka states: “We may have to remind you that you have had since August 2008 to submit to the DTI a reworked and reviewed [charter].”
Masombuka, who is also chairman of the committee, says the submission by industry had several defects and did not “substantively conform with the requirements set out in the Codes”.
He writes that the committee will shortly receive a letter from the department setting out an ultimatum to submit a revised version that rectifies issues raised by the department. “Under no circumstances will the minister gazette a charter that does not demonstrate evidence of consensus among stakeholders, especially major stakeholders who are ultimately expected to drive compliance in that sector.”
Disagreement
But, Tlhoaele maintains: “For the record, the proposed ICT Sector Code gazetting process is currently in the hands of DTI.”
He says the department should not seek to discredit the charter and the progress that has been made, as it is “more than six years since the first draft charter was published for comment”.
The charter makes provisions for ICT companies that are more practical than those contained in the BEE Code of Good Practice. The committee recently explained these issues and the charter should be promulgated soon. However, the timeline is up to the DTI, says Tlhoaele.
The charter has been dogged by delays since June 2003, when the process of launching the paper started. In May 2005, a “final” document was released, but this process was interrupted by the launch, in 2005, of the BEE codes, with which the charter needed to be aligned.
Government gazetted the BEE Code of Good Practice in February 2007. In addition, several industry role-players have raised concerns over various drafts of the document. However, Tlhoaele says all parties have agreed to the final version.
The committee has been locked in debates over the sector codes for several years. Since the first final draft in 2005, the committee has signed off on several “final” drafts.
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