Fixed-line telecommunications operator Telkom is SA's most empowered information & communications technology (ICT) company in the 2006 Top Empowerment Companies survey. But only just.
Other companies in its sector have inched closer to unseating it from this position, which it has maintained since the inception of the survey in 2004. This year a mere 0,32 percentage points separate Telkom from the country's second-most empowered ICT company, computer maker Mustek.
Overall, though, Telkom slipped from first place in 2005's survey to fifth place this year, behind Sekunjalo Investments, the Don Group, Sun International and Enaleni Pharmaceuticals.
IT services firm GijimaAST, which concluded an equity empowerment deal last year, is third in the ICT sector in this year's survey. Altron subsidiary Bytes Technology Group and cellphone provider MTN round out the top five. SA's two largest IT services groups, Business Connexion and Dimension Data, came in positions eight and nine respectively, after Paracon and Datacentrix.
Interestingly, the companies ranked as the top five in the ICT sector also all finished in the top 10 of the overall rankings this year, demonstrating that companies in the sector have made enormous strides in the past year in meeting the demands of transformation.
For a sector that was accused a couple of years ago of being too pale and male, this is a dramatic about-turn. Most of the large IT and telecom groups have now sold equity in their businesses to black shareholders. A glaring exception is cellphone group Vodacom, though it, too, may finally bring black shareholders on board in 2006.
The most controversial deal of last year, the one that stole all the headlines, was the sale by state-owned investment manager the Public Investment Corp, of 6,7% of its equity in Telkom to the Elephant Consortium.
Also among the year's highlights was the decision by US telecom company MCI to sell 30% of Internet service provider UUNet to J&J Group, and computer services company Unisys's move to sell 30% of Unisys Africa to black-owned technology consulting firm Cyberknowledge Systems Investments.
Other companies are in discussions with potential partners. Vodafone, for example, indicated last year that it was prepared to sell some of its equity in Vodacom to black investors.
And, at the time of going to press, German business software developer SAP was still in talks to sell equity in its SA business.
This activity is taking place despite the fact that the sector still does not have an empowerment charter to guide it. Industry leaders are hopeful that a charter will come into effect this year, more than three years after the process began.
The finalisation of the ICT charter was held up last year as its steering committee awaited publication of the codes of good practice by the department of trade & industry (DTI).
Now the process of tweaking the draft ICT charter begins, to ensure it conforms with the DTI codes, says Roger Dawes, executive director of the Electronics Industries Federation. Dawes says ICT industry associations and the charter steering committee plan to work closely with government in the next few months to ensure that the process is finalised as quickly as possible.
