SA's long-awaited ICT sector charter is expected to come into force from the beginning of April.
However, while a final document has been sent to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for gazetting, the department says there are still outstanding issues that first have to be resolved.
Steering committee deputy chairman Andile Tlhoa'ele says he submitted all outstanding items to the DTI on 4 November. He explains there were “about three to four minor issues that needed to be incorporated as part of the gazetting process”.
Tlhoa'ele says the committee is now waiting for a gazetting date from the department. The charter must be gazetted by March, which is government's deadline for publishing charters that are in the pipeline. The public will then have 60 days in which to comment.
Still issues
Thabo Masombuka, director of BEE partnerships in the DTI's Enterprise Industry Development Division, says: “There are still outstanding documents and information that make the charter ungazettable at this point in time.”
Masombuka says the DTI has previously informed the steering committee chairman that these issues must be resolved before the charter can be gazetted.
However, Tlhoa'ele says he has not been notified about these, and all outstanding issues that were holding the charter up have been resolved.
The sectoral charter has been in the pipeline for at least the last seven years, and has been held up several times as numerous “final” iterations have been completed. The process of launching the document dates back to 2003, and a “final” version was released two years later.
It was held up again in 2007 when the DTI published the BEE Code of Good Practice, which meant the charter had to be aligned with the codes. Then the Electronic Industry Federation (EIF) refused to sign off on the charter, saying its targets were unrealistic.
Tlhoa'ele says the EIF's issues have also been resolved. The federation has indicated it may comment during the 60-day comment period, but is in support of the charter being gazetted, he adds.
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