Industry Transformation Charter will be signed next week

The signing ceremony is the culmination of a process that was initiated in October 2001 when Parliament held hearings on the state of the advertising industry. Since then, a consultative process between government and the broader marketing, advertising and communications industry - intended to implement a mutually agreeable process of transformation in the industry - has been unfolding.

The official signing of transformation charter will be hosted by transformation steering committee chairperson, Dr Danisa Baloyi, along with Minister Pahad.

This charter is a shared vision of the marketing, advertising, and communications industry and its scorecard will promote change in the industry in line with the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act and Strategy and the Codes of Good Practice currently being finalised, according to the Government Communications (GCIS) statement issued.

This industry was the first to be investigated publicly for racism in October 2001, when the Portfolio Committee on Communication, an organ of the National Assembly in Parliament, convened public hearings into the pace of transformation in the advertising and marketing value chain. After finding that the pace of transformation in the value chain was unacceptably slow, the Portfolio Committee on Communication directed that Government should facilitate a consultative process with all stakeholders with the view of finding a common blueprint for the transformation of the industry.

Dr Pahad indicated that the industry had made great progress towards the equitable transformation of South African society through political and economic transformation. "The issue now is how to tap into the huge amount of creative talent out there, to find the ways and means to harness that and open up the creative opportunities out there. We have reached the take off point... with this Charter," Dr Pahad emphasised.

A Charter Council will be established to audit the process over the next three to nine years to full implementation in 2014.

The industry stakeholders and signatories are: ACA, MFSA, SAMRA, ASA, Design SA, SAARF, NAB, AMF, THINK, YIPEE (Young Industry Professionals Enhancing Empowerment), CAFÉ, MAPP-SETA, MDDA, REFINERY, RIT AG, PRISA, CPA. Government stakeholders include: GCIS, DTI, Communications, National Treasury, Education, Labour, DPSA, Arts & Culture ministries.