A Department of Communications, ICT industry banquet celebrating SA`s telecoms achievements in the past 10 years has been called off only hours before it was scheduled to go ahead. The announcement follows "heated" discussions until late last night.
The event, scheduled to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre tomorrow evening, was to have seen 780 government and industry players gathering to celebrate telecommunications developments in SA in the past 10 years.
However, the project steering committee decided at a meeting last night that the event should be postponed to May, to coincide with other government celebrations and World Telecoms Day. This is the second time the event has been postponed. It was initially planned for November last year.
Project coordinator Andre Wills says the "disappointing" decision meant that large financial losses would have to be absorbed. "We will still discuss future plans and the effect of the losses with our sponsors," he says. Telkom, Sentech, Vodacom and MTN are sponsoring the project, in partnership with the Department of Communications.
The Decade of Telecoms project, which included the banquet and a commemorative book, had a budget of R1.4 million. The banquet was to have cost up to R1 000 per head, and much of the money has already been paid in the form of deposits.
One of the event`s organisers, Melissa Powell of 3DGlobal, says decisions have yet to be made on recouping money and making use of wasted food and catering supplies. "It`s been traumatic," she says. "We are currently calling all the guests and might even end up having to donate the food to worthy causes."
Further talks will be held with all stakeholders, says Wills, to decide on how to proceed. "But if anything positive came of last night`s discussions, it was a commitment shown by all concerned to compromise and work together."
Yvonne Muthien, director of corporate affairs for MTN, could not comment immediately, as she was still awaiting official confirmation of the cancellation from the Department of Communications.
Guests who have not been contacted can call 3DGlobal at (011) 804-2209 for more information.
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