Computer Society South Africa (CSSA) notes with some surprise the unheralded publication of the “BEE Charter” for the ICT Sector in the Government Gazette on 6 June.
While welcoming the long overdue removal of the uncertainty surrounding the fate of these Codes, CSSA is concerned that their immediate implementation will cause a considerable amount of work for enterprises who have achieved compliance under the Generic Codes and will now have to recompile their scorecards and have them verified again in line with the different targets in the sector-specific Codes.
Adrian Schofield, CSSA President, says: “We do not want to re-open the old discussions, but we do believe there is little justification in retaining the R7.5 billion 'cap' to achieve compliance in equity ownership, for example. We are also concerned by the reference to the existence of an 'ICT BEE Council' in section 6.5.2, since there is no indication of how such a Council will be formed or funded.”
Schofield also notes that the codes need to be corrected to refer to the new Companies Act (2008) and to remove some inconsistencies in respect of reviews and expiry dates. “We expect to see a flurry of activity as the sector stakeholders evaluate the implications for their businesses in the next few weeks,” he added.
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