Munzhelele heads ICT charter committee

By Itumeleng Mogaki, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 01 Feb 2006

Norman Munzhelele, chief director of the policy unit at the Department of Communications, has been appointed as the new chairperson of the ICT empowerment charter steering committee.

This follows Joe Mjwara`s resignation as the department`s deputy director general and chairperson of the ICT empowerment charter steering committee last year.

Munzhelele says the steering committee will meet on Wednesday next week to map the way forward. He says the only major challenge facing the committee is the "harmonisation of the ICT industry`s codes and the Department of Trade and Industry`s (DTI`s) codes".

It had been hoped that the charter would be in operation by mid-2005, but the charter process suffered a series of setbacks. These included the steering committee`s decision to await the complete DTI Codes of Good Practice before finalising the charter.

The DTI released its second set of codes for public comment in December.

"The purpose of next week`s meeting is for us as the steering committee to decide whether we should await the complete DTI codes or find other 'alternative means` as a way of moving the charter process forward," says Munzhelele.

Roger Dawes, Electronics Industry Federation executive director and member of the charter steering committee, says it must be remembered that the DTI codes are not only for the ICT industry. "This means the finalisation of the ICT charter could possibly take longer as the DTI`s codes also cover other industries," he says.

"It is the DTI`s aim, as I understand it, to have the codes completed this year, likewise with the ICT charter," says Luanne Grant, American Chamber of Commerce executive director and charter steering committee member. "The charter setbacks were inevitable as the whole charter process in any industry is a learning process."