ICT charter to start in March

Chairperson Dali Mpofu told reporters in Johannesburg the fourth and final draft of the charter would be released on August 23.

"Once the document is out constituencies in the industry would be given a chance to comment up until the end of September when it will be handed to the government."

The communication department would then submit the document to the Cabinet.

"We... expect the charter to be operational in the next financial year by March 1, 2005."

Mpofu also announced that an agreement was signed between the working group and the American Chamber of Commerce, which represents multinationals.

The agreement was reached on Wednesday night and the signing of the pact took place on Thursday.

"This development is significant because it was a major issue and now we can comfortably say the end is in sight," he said.

"We've had robust discussions which had caused some delays, but we were able to stick to the task at hand and the results prove this."

Mpofu said another cause of delay was the large number of suggestions received from the local industry in response to the third draft of the charter.

Bilateral talks between the government and the industry had reached significant consensus on a number of contentious issues, which were raised in the third draft, he said.

There were still a few outstanding issues. Stakeholders expected these to be resolved by the end of August and to be in the last draft.

The document would also include the results of discussions with the Independent Communication Authority of SA (Icasa) and labour unions.

Mpofu said the government and the working group were confident the intended commencement date of the charter would be achieved.