Charter awaits complete DTI code

By Itumeleng Mogaki, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 04 Nov 2005

Although the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has released its "final" version of the first set of its Code of Good Practice for public comment, the ICT empowerment charter steering committee looks unlikely to amend the draft charter yet.

The DTI code, set to govern all of SA`s black economic empowerment charters, was released this week.

The ICT industry`s empowerment charter has been delayed while the steering committee drafting the charter awaits the DTI`s code. The aim is to closely align the two for the benefit of those sub-sectors governed by both sets of guidelines.

Pheladi Gwangwa, ICT charter steering committee member and radio 702 station manager, says there are still outstanding sections in the DTI document, so she does not see the point of aligning the final version of the empowerment charter with the first set of the DTI`s code.

"There`s no use in the steering committee using piecemeal codes, as the codes released by the DTI only address equity ownership and empowerment management aspects of the codes," says Gwangwa.

"We are still waiting for the final set of the DTI`s codes, before we could look at aligning them with the industry`s codes. We need outstanding codes to be included."

Gwangwa says she cannot comment further as the steering committee is still discussing the rest of the code document, before considering the way forward.

The charter has suffered a series of setbacks in its three-year drafting process. It was hoped the charter would be operational by mid-2005, but key industry players have indicated that the final product is still some way off.