Black IT awards fade to grey
You could have cut the irony, if not the main course`s chicken breast, with a knife. One could almost hear the muted mutterings sweeping the hangar-like hall at Gallagher Estate: “What is this, a ‘token whitey` award?”That`s not the sort of question one should be asking CS Holdings CEO Annette van der Laan, whose pride at winning the award has not entirely assuaged the tenderness of having been lumped together with recalcitrant lily-whites like Didata and Comparex by Black IT Forum (BIT4M) chairman Hasmukh Gajjar.“It`s not a token award at all,” retorts Van der Laan, who points out that CS is already 25 percent owned by black company Worldwide, has a company-wide black empowerment strategy and intends to have a workforce comprising at least 50 percent previously disadvantaged individuals by 2005.Simon White, a director at event organiser Forge Ahead BMI-T, echoes her rebuttal of reverse tokenism. He says the judges assessed the finalists on far broader issues than simply black ownership. “CS has done an immense amount in terms of training, skills development, social upliftment and developing progressive company policies that very few people outside the company know about,” says White.Of course, questions like this would be utterly irrelevant if the African ICT Achievers Awards had been open to the entire industry in the first place. To many, this goes to the heart of the issue: should the IT industry still be having awards based on race rather than merit? Black role modelsDamn right, says a defiant White. In fact, he suggests, the African ICT Achievers Awards is one of the few such events that has any genuine credibility in the industry, and its clout is growing all the time. It certainly has the backing of government, with the Department of Communications and state IT agency SITA on board as partners in presenting the awards.“No one would be more delighted than us to remove all racial overtones,” says White. “We`ve already started this by changing the name of the event from the Black ICT Achievers Awards to the African ICT Achievers Awards, and several of the categories were not racially based this year.“But let`s not be naïve about this issue. We have a history which we can`t wish away. And, like it or not, because of past imbalances, all is still not well from a racial equity point of view. To simply talk about merit to the exclusion of redress is to ignore the effects of our legacy,” says White.White believes the awards, which are now in their fourth year, have played a critical part in providing black role models for the emerging black IT industry and giving black-owned companies both credibility and a profile in the industry at large.“The more successful black companies there are, the better it is for the entire industry. We`ve already seen black companies increase their business exponentially after doing well at these awards, both through the added confidence they get and the improved perceptions in the marketplace,” he says.The recent successes of past winners like Gijima and Choice Technologies in a flat market bears White out, to some degree. Former Computerweek editor James van den Heever, who headed up the judging panel for this year`s event, is another who has no doubt the event has a developmental role to play, saying there has been a “clear improvement” in the calibre of candidates over the past year or two.Not surprisingly, Choice featured strongly again at this year`s awards. The company`s MD, Jabu Sibanda, was a popular choice as Mover and Shaker of the year, emerging from the long shadows of mentor Semela Tseka to jump the company`s turnover five-fold in the past five years by weaning itself off government business and securing key private sector contracts.Choice also shared the Top Black ICT Company award with Cornastone Technologies, the two-year old IT start-up chaired by the BIT4M`s Lefuno Nevhutalo.Inevitably, some awards raised eyebrows. The choice of GautengOnline`s Mark Gordon as winner of the Public Sector Service Award was interesting, to say the least. GautengOnline, which aims to put computers into each of the province`s 2 500 schools by the year 2006, is a great idea, and a prime example of the way ICT can change people`s lives. But given that the project ground to a shuddering halt before phase one even started, the judges clearly saw merit where many others didn`t. Blazing trailsBut there could be little quibbling with the Lifetime Achievement Award given to Lyndall Shope-Mafole for her contribution to the ICT industry. The woman who has rocked the pale European male bastions of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) by becoming the first woman in 103 years to chair the council was not there in person to receive her award, but the charming acceptance speech by her son was one of the highlights of the evening.And Sharoda Rapeti, who was named both the Top Black Woman in ICT and the Overall Winner of 2002 awards, has battled staggering odds to blaze a trail for women in the male-dominated ICT industry. Currently the MD of technology at the SABC, Rapeti`s achievements would have stood out in any IT showcase.This improvement, both in the numbers and the level of candidates being nominated for the awards, vindicates Forge Ahead`s ambitions of acting as a catalyst for change in the industry as a whole, says director Jane Mosebi, who has lofty dreams of turning the African ICT Achievers Awards into the Oscars of the IT industry.If the budget is anything to go by, she`s certainly halfway there already. The Sophiatown-themed awards evening featured an open bar for some 1 500 attendees, penny-whistle playing buskers and a musical line-up including Abigail Kubheka, Dorothy Masuku and Sipho Mabuse. At R12 000 a table for some 140-odd tables … you do the sums. And that`s not counting sponsorships from the likes of Oracle, Choice, 3Com and AST.The choice of music by some of the entertainers provided a jarring note or two, in a manner of speaking. At an awards evening celebrating the African continent, one would have thought there`d be more than enough local material with which to wow the black-tied audience. Instead, Tapeko Mofokeng and Abigail Kubheka belted out tired old standards like New York, New York, Mack the Knife and – the horror, the horror – Simply the Best.Mosebi won`t be drawn on the choice of music, but is unrepentant about the cost of the evening, which ran into millions of rands. “If we want to become the premier IT awards in South Africa, we`ve got to attract the people and give them a good show,” she said. Peer reviewIt`s not all glitter, though. In its efforts to boost the credibility of the awards beyond just another off-the-shelf trade award, Forge Ahead BMI-T this year overhauled the judging and adjudication process.“The credibility and validity of an industry award depends largely on the calibre, integrity and expertise of the judges and the transparency of the process,” says Mosebi. “The remarkable thing about the competition is that the nominees are all selected by their peers in the industry.“What`s more, this year we assembled judging panels made up of high profile people who really know South Africa`s ICT industry, and involved auditors in the entire judging process to ensure transparency and openness.”The judging panels drew on a range of luminaries from the financial and computer trade media, large systems integrators and local multinational subsidiaries, as well as public sector and NGO officials. They included past winners like Lucky Khumalo and Choice`s Tseka, Financial Mail`s Marina Bidoli and ITWeb`s Ranka Jovanovic (ITWeb is Brainstorm`s publisher. - Ed.), commentators like Mish Middelman and Ian Melamed, and sundry analysts from local research house BMI-TechKnowledge.Mosebi believes the South African IT industry is crying out for an awards evening of genuine substance. For one, she says, this would have the effect of reducing the fragmentation which currently bedevils the industry. At last count there were more than 30 industry organisations – each claiming to represent the industry, each with its own agenda, each dishing out its own tinpot awards, but precious few showing anything in the way of a broader vision of a common good.The way the awards are structured is also designed to ensure that the effects “do not disappear along with the last round of applause”, says Mosebi. “With honour comes responsibility, and we`ve built a promise into the overall award that the winner makes a further mark which will have a lasting effect on a disadvantaged community.” Getting togetherThis saw last year`s winner, Choice Technologies chairman Semela Tseka, donate the ten computers he won to the Matshumane Secondary School in Glen Cowie, in the heart of rural Limpopo province – with the proviso that the school creates an IT centre which can be used to improve the lot of the entire community. Tseka went even further, hiring a trainer for a year to teach the school children and community members how to use and maintain the centre.“It is only by working together that we can move forward,” says Mosebi. “We need to educate each other, work together, exchange information. The white IT industry can wail and bleat all they like, but the fact is that for every company making an honest effort to transform the industry, there are still numerous companies who have not got their act together. These awards can play a powerful role in bringing our fractured industry – and ultimately our society – closer together.”
28 October 2002
You could have cut the irony, if not the main course`s chicken breast, with a knife. One could almost hear the muted mutterings sweeping the hangar-like hall at Gallagher Estate: “What is this, a ‘token whitey` award?”
“It`s not a token award at all,” retorts Van der Laan, who points out that CS is already 25 percent owned by black company Worldwide, has a company-wide black empowerment strategy and intends to have a workforce comprising at least 50 percent previously disadvantaged individuals by 2005.
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