Go ahead, gazette it

Johannesburg, 11 Jun 2009

The ICT empowerment charter steering committee believes there is no reason why the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should not gazette the ICT charter.

Following a request by representatives of the electronic sector to conduct an economic impact study on the proposed sector codes, the committee says the DTI should still move on with the process.

While the DTI has indicated it will not gazette the charter as it stands, chairman of the steering committee Norman Munzhelele says the final draft submitted in March should be gazetted. The DTI has given the electronics sector time to conduct the study and slated the majority decision taken by the committee.

Munzhelele says he received a copy of the letter the electronics sector sent to the DTI, but he adds this should not have a negative impact on the decision taken by the committee.

“We have done what we needed to do. Our biggest issue was harmonising the charter with the DTI codes and we have done that. And, earlier on, the [electronics] sector signed the charter. In my view, the request by the sector to conduct the study is an indirect response to say they are still willing to be a part of the process.”

Munzhelele previously told ITWeb the committee had taken a majority decision to submit the charter to government. He stated the work on the draft ICT Sector Codes of Good Practice on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment had been finalised.

Munzhelele noted that three out of the four represented sectors had agreed to the final draft. One sector had requested a revised board and decreased BEE targets, which the committee had declined. The DTI confirmed the electronics sector had written to it, raising issues and requesting time to conduct the study before the final decision is made.

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

According to Munzhelele, the DTI has not informed the committee on any decisions it has taken regarding the charter. Only once the department makes an announcement will the committee take any decisions, he says.

The committee has been locked in debates over the sector codes for several years. The process has not been completed, since the first final draft in 2005, and the committee has signed off on another four 'final' drafts. Munzhelele says this history should not be ignored by DTI. This is not a new process and, as other sectors have signed the charter, it should not prohibit the DTI from gazetting it, he concludes.