BEE charter group hits the road

Johannesburg, 15 Mar 2004

The ICT empowerment charter working group began the first leg of its national tour in East London today to promote the ICT black economic empowerment (BEE) charter.

Dali Mpofu, ICT empowerment working group chairman, says the roadshow aims to facilitate discussion and help formulate the final draft of the charter for submission to government.

"Our prime objectives for the roll-out of the charter include enabling meaningful participation by black people in the ICT sector, achieving a substantial change in the racial composition of ownership, management and control, as well as in the skilled and specialist positions inside companies," he says.

The roadshow is aimed at giving provinces the opportunity to discuss these objectives and add to them, Mpofu says. The emphasis is expected to be on black-owned companies, small, medium and micro-enterprises, and women in IT. Teams composed of working group members will present the charter and facilitate the discussions.

"The idea is not to cover everything in a half-day meeting but rather to 'plant the seeds` for local discussions which should continue between now and the end of June, the time set for the release of the final charter."

Mpofu says input from the roadshows, provincial discussions and research done by the three research teams will be included in monthly updates of the charter in the run up to the final draft`s release.

The first discussion was in East London this morning, with another one scheduled in Port Elizabeth at the Livingston Hospital this afternoon. The working group will hold a discussion session at Sita House in Cape Town on Tuesday at 1.30pm.

For a copy of the first draft, or further information on subsequent discussions in the other provinces, visit http://www.ictcharter.org/. Alternatively, contact the organisers on (011) 803-7456 or e-mail info@tcf.co.za.