[WSIS CS-Plenary] [WSIS THETHA] National Civil Society ICT Roundtable

[mtintern]

NATIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY ICT ROUNDTABLE

"What is our stake in the multi-billion rand South African IT &
communications industry?"

9 September 2004

Johannesburg

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The Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT) and the South African National
NGO Coalition (SANGOCO) are convening a national ICT roundtable event for
civil society organisations to be held on 9 September 2004 in Johannesburg.

The event will focus on the long-awaited Second National Operator (SNO),
which will be licensed on 17 September 2004, as well as the fourth draft of
the ICT Empowerment Charter, which was released  last week. Public comments
on the charter must be submitted to the Charter Working Group before 15
September 2004.

Both the SNO and ICT Empowerment Charter present civil society with unique
challenges and opportunities to ensure that all South Africans share in the
benefits of these important developments. Our failure to act in this regard
will only result in the continuation of current access, cost and ownership
trends, and not in the desired transformation of South African society and
the IT industry.

The forthcoming event will therefore provide participants with an
opportunity to gain insight into the focus and scope of both developments,
as well as to raise specific issues and expectations which will be collated
and presented to the appropriate authorities after the meeting.

The roundtable will be held on Thursday, 9 September 2004 (10h00-15h30), at
the School for Public and Development Management, Wits University in
Parktown (1st Floor, Donald Gordon Building, cnr St Andrews and St Davids,
Parktown).

A map of the venue is available on request.

If you have something to contribute and/or want to learn more about the SNO
or ICT Empowerment Charter, please attend this important event.

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If you cannot attend the event, we are still interested in your views.
Please e-mail or fax us your comments by 10 September 2004.


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Information on the SNO and ICT Empowerment Charter is available at
http://www.itweb.co.za and http://www.ictcharter.org.za.

To register for the event or submit written comments, please contact:

Sandra Roberts
SANGONeT
Tel: (011) 403-4935
Fax: (011) 403-0130
E-mail: sandra at sangonet.org.za
URL: http://www.sangonet.org.za

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