Aligning the Tourism BEE Charter and Scorecard to the Department of Trade and Industry (the DTI) Codes of Good Practice

13 April 2007 at the Cape Sun, Cape Town

Presenters: Sifiso Mthembu Phindile Dhlamini Raymond Mahole Judith Mhlongo

S'fiso Mthembu

By S'fiso Mthembu

Background
The DTI Codes of Good Practice were approved and later gazetted to be binding on all organs of state. The challenge, however, remained that the Tourism Charter and Scorecard in its present form was not even close to the DTI’s Codes.

As a result, there was a need for the Tourism BEE Charter Council to align the Tourism Charter to the DTI Codes and it was felt that there should be consultations with different partners in all nine provinces.

Objectives
The main objective of the workshop was to solicit views and inputs from the tourism industry on how best we can achieve this alignment.

Raymond Mahole, S'fiso Mthembu, Phindile Dhlamini, Judith Mhlongo

Achievement
Views expressed by the participants were incorporated into the draft Tourism Code that will be closely aligned to the DTI’s Codes. In addition, views expressed at the workshops were also discussed at the inaugural Annual Tourism BEE Conference - where further input was made to finalise the Tourism BEE Charter and Scorecard. The reason for alignment is that it is the plan of the Tourism BEE Charter Council to make the Tourism Code binding to all state organs and those organizations doing business with Government.

The objectives were achieved in a sense that we were able to garner different views on various parts of the Tourism BEE Charter and Scorecard.

The way forward is that the Council will submit a draft Tourism BEE Charter and Scorecard to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism for him to apply for it to be gazetted.