T-Systems SA achieves level one B-BBEE rating

* Level one B-BBEE rating a significant milestone for T-Systems South Africa's customers and business partners.
* Level one rating is part of TSSA's strategy of promoting transformation as an important agenda and not a tick-box exercise.
* T-Systems is 30% black-owned. Its shareholders comprise the T-Systems Employee Empowerment Trust, which holds 20%, and the T-Systems Community Trust, which holds 10%.

Dineo Molefe, MD of T-Systems South Africa.

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South African multinational IT services provider T-Systems South Africa (TSSA) has been rated a B-BBEE level one contributor in terms of the revised Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Act Codes of Good Practice, by SANAS-accredited rating agency, EmpowerLogic.

Commenting on the rating, Dineo Molefe, MD of T-Systems South Africa, said: "It has been our aim to reach the highest level of rating, not for the rating in itself, but because we believe that transformation is the right thing to do and invest in."

Molefe mentions that part of the strategy was to maximise on its black management control, transformation and skills development outcomes to achieve the level one B-BBEE rating. T-Systems strengthened its initiatives on the two areas, transformation of management control as well as skills development.

T-Systems' Skills Development Programmes demonstrated how the company was improving the quality of skills base available for the ICT sector and the country. Through the T-Systems ICT Academy, the company extended the reach to disadvantaged communities.

In 2018, T-Systems was awarded with the Investing in Young Women Award at the Gender Mainstreaming Awards, as well as the Vision2030 Award (ICT Sector) for its Nation Building, which includes the T-Systems ICT Academy, the Hazyview Digital Learning Academy and Internship Programme.

Molefe adds: "Our commitment to sustainable transformation is paying dividends, with the achievement of this level one rating and also evidenced by the acknowledgement we have received in the form of awards. We are determined to take the transformation agenda to customers using skills developed in the company and by the company.

The level one B-BBEE status has marked a significant milestone for T-Systems and is evidence of its philosophy of operating globally and thinking locally, and this further validates the company's ethos of being in South Africa for South Africa.