THE ICT CHARTER

companies and professionals concurrently belong to more than one
association;
3.5.4. detailed and reliable research on various key aspects of the ICT
sector does not yet exist or is not readily available. In many
instances, NGO’s and other state organs have duplicated research
with the unintended consequence that some important parts of the
research are either incomplete or conflict with each other; and
3.5.5. the development of Open Source platforms and other measures
aimed at enhancing local technology and intellectual property
capacity thus lessening reliance on proprietary platforms in the
long term.
With regard to formulating its Charter, the industry took cognisance of
the interlink between itself and other processes outside the ICT sector.
For example, proper implementation of the Financial Sector Charter is
directly dependent on the finalisation of the ICT Charter. This owes to
the fact that more than forty percent of the financial sector
procurement is reportedly spent on the ICT sector. Clause 6.1 of the
Financial Sector Charter reads:
“The financial institutions will implement a targeted procurement
strategy to enhance BEE. Provided there are charters in the
information and communication technology (“ICT”), the advertising
and the automotive and building sectors, and that international
suppliers are subject to those charters, the target will be 50% of
the value of all procurement from BEE accredited companies by
2008 and 70% by 2014.”
To varying degrees, every other sector of the economy is directly and
heavily dependent on goods and services procured from the ICT sector.
3.6. Key Principles of the Charter
This Charter is based on the following underlying principles:-
3.6.1. its provisions generally apply to all ICT sector enterprises active in
the South African market. This shall also include specialised and
sizable ICT related business units outside of the ICT sector itself
such as IT departments of large banks;
3.6.2. it is a voluntary and inclusive industry initiative;
3.6.3. it is a transformation Charter as contemplated in the Broad-based
BEE Act 53 of 2003;
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