Johannesburg - The Gartner Group, the international information technology (IT) research institute, yesterday disputed reports that one of its surveys on Y2K progress had caused Cargill, a global import-export company, to reconsider trade relations with South Africa.
The latest Gartner report, available on Gartner`s website, shows South Africa to be less risky than many other countries, with good progress being made on Y2K issues and a level of compliance that may lag behind the First World, but which is not in a critical state.
Gartner said it had seen the letter Cargill sent to the department of agriculture and said it was not about withdrawing business. Cargill was not immediately available for comment yesterday
Gartner said Cargill could not state exactly which report it had based its information on.
The IT research group did say an old report gave South Africa a less favourable rating, but that was about six months out of date.
The research house also said the government department`s statement that, according to Gartner, "40 percent of the country`s infrastructure won`t work and 80 percent of government-run systems won`t work" was never written or reported by Gartner.
The Reserve Bank and the National Year 2000 Decision Support Centre had replied to the department of agriculture on Tuesday to say they would be making concerted efforts to change Gartner`s views about the local situation.
However, in a conference call with the Gartner Group, the Reserve Bank staff member admitted he had not seen or read the alleged bad report from Cargill.
Gartner said further that it had been trying to liaise with the support centre all year, but the centre had displayed no interest in using or adding to Gartner`s information.
Tsietsi Maleho, the acting chief executive of the centre, said on Tuesday that the centre was constantly liaising with international bodies like Gartner, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and others to try to change perceptions about South Africa`s state of Y2K readiness.