The long-awaited ICT charter, which must be gazetted by the end of next month, is likely to fade into obscurity as key industry players don't agree with the final version.
It seems increasingly unlikely the charter will ever see the light of day, despite assurances by a steering committee representative that the charter will come into effect on 1 April. The charter must be gazetted by the end of next month, which is government's deadline for all outstanding sectoral charters.
Steering committee deputy chairman Andile Tlhoa'ele is waiting for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to gazette the charter, yet the DTI is waiting for the Department of Communications (DOC) to confirm that all outstanding issues have been resolved.
In addition, another member of the steering committee says the charter cannot be finalised, because not everyone agrees with the final version. As a result, the charter may never come into being, and the ICT sector will have to rely on the generic empowerment codes instead.
The charter has been in the pipeline for at least the last seven years, and has been held up several times as numerous “final” iterations have been completed, but not gazetted. Work on the charter started in 2003, which was followed by the launch, two years later, of the first “final” version.
However, after the DTI gazetted the BEE Code of Good Practice in February 2007, the document had to be aligned with the codes, causing yet another delay. In addition, the then Electronic Industry Federation would not sign off on the charter, arguing that its targets were unrealistic and would harm parts of the industry.
Sorted?
Tlhoa'ele says all outstanding issues the DTI required have been finalised, and he expects the charter to be gazetted at the end of March. He explains that the department has agreed to gazette six charters, and the ICT document is among those to be published for public comment.
He says the charter is set to come into effect from 1 April, and remain in force until the end of March 2026, with a five-year review at the end of March 2016, unless it is amended, substituted or repealed under the Act.
However, Thabo Masombuka, director of BEE partnerships in the DTI's Enterprise Industry Development Division, says as far as the DTI is concerned, there are still outstanding issues. He says the DTI is waiting for the DOC to give it direction and indicate whether everything has been wrapped up.
Masombuka says the charter must be supported by the line ministry. He says there is one month left for everyone to agree on the “one or two” outstanding issues by the end of March, which is government's deadline for gazetting all the outstanding charters. “There will have to be some sort of agreement.”
Up in the air
Yet, as far as Adrian Schofield, president of the Computer Society of SA and a member of the steering committee, is aware, there isn't any consensus on the charter at the DOC. Without consensus from all industry players, the charter cannot be gazetted and come into effect.
The charter is unlikely to see the light of day, says Schofield. He says the codes are being used across SA for empowerment scoring, and sectoral charters are not considered when it comes to doing business.
“I don't think there has been any change in the position in the last I-don't-know-how-long,” says Schofield. He says the charter process came to a halt two years ago, and the steering committee has not met since then. “I'm not aware of there being any pen-to-paper by any mandated representatives.”
Schofield says the entire process, so far, has been a waste of time. “A piece of paper that is not mandated is just a piece of paper.” He says the charter should have been implemented five or six years ago to have an effect, but now it's a case of “too little, too late”.
In addition, the South African SMME Forum has previously said it has not seen the final document, and is concerned about its contents.
The DOC was not immediately able to comment on the charter's status this morning.
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