At least three top independent technology experts have resigned from a national broadband council amid allegations of insufficient guidance from government.<\/p>\n
The National Broadband Advisory Council was launched by former Communications Minister Yunus Carrim on March 4 2014, with the intention of tapping independent experts to support the department with policy implementation.<\/p>\n
However, the council was subject to President Jacob Zuma\u2019s decision in May 2014 to split the Department of Communications into two. This meant that the broadband council subsequently fell under the watch of Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele.<\/p>\n
But the chairperson of the council, CEO of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Dr Sibusiso Sibisi, as well as the deputy chairperson Professor Alison Gillwald, executive director of Research ICT Africa, handed in their resignations in December.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is indeed the case that Alison and I stepped down because of insufficient guidance from the minister (Cwele) and department regarding the perceived relevance of the council,\u201d Sibisi told Fin24.<\/p>\n
Amid these resignations, prominent local technology expert Arthur Goldstuck confirmed to Fin24 that he has also quit as a member of the council. It is unclear at this stage whether other council members will follow suit.<\/p>\n
Council\u2019s meetings dried up<\/strong><\/p>\n Fin24 understands that members of the National Broadband Advisory Council were expected to meet every two months, and that a previous government gazette outlined that the council should bridge electoral cycles and administrations.<\/p>\n While Carrim attended the council\u2019s first meeting with its members in 2014, Fin24 understands that Cwele did not attend any meetings of the broadband council in 2014 or 2015.<\/p>\n Fin24 also understands that there were no council meetings in 2015, especially after a National ICT Forum was established by Cwele in May last year.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder the new administration the department, now of telecommunications and post, was reluctant to engage the council and proceeded with broadband implementation without reference to it at all, and some would argue contrary to national policy,\u201d Gillwald told Fin24.<\/p>\n \u201cThe minister has not been available since coming into office to meet with the council or in any other way to endorse its activities. This compounded the department\u2019s lack of responsiveness to council requests for information, meeting coordination and records, making the work of the council untenable,\u201d Gillwald said.<\/p>\n Gillwald said that efforts to incorporate the council into the newly established National ICT Forum resulted in no feedback from the department.<\/p>\n The National ICT Forum was established by Cwele with the intention of coordinating efforts among public and private players in the broader sector.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the appointment of the National ICT Forum last year by the minister of post and telecommunications, the chairperson of the broadband council, Dr Sibusiso Sibisi, and I felt that the role of the council to advise the minister of broadband developments and anticipate global and national developments at least, could be incorporated into a body that enjoyed his and his advisers’ confidence and proposed that the council be formally disbanded having not met by then for nearly a year,\u201d Gillwald told Fin24.<\/p>\n Council barely \u201cgot going\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Managing director of local technology research firm World Wide Worx Arthur Goldstuck told Fin24 that Carrim\u2019s establishment of the broadband council in 2014 was one of the most \u201cproductive\u201d moves seen in the sector for years.<\/p>\n But after President Jacob Zuma\u2019s splitting of the departments in May 2014, the relevance of the council began to wane,<\/p>\n “It had barely got going when the departments were split. We still met a few times after that but without the new minister in attendance,\u201d Goldstuck told Fin24.<\/p>\n “And in the course of 2015, the broadband council never met,\u201d Goldstuck said.<\/p>\n Amid the growing lack of relevance and non-response by government, Goldstuck also quit the council.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was incumbent on me to resign, especially considering that I had been contemplating it. I think that the sentiment expressed by Alison (Gillwald) and Sibusiso (Sibisi) pretty much encompass the experience of most of the members of the council,\u201d Goldstuck told Fin24.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really becomes an untenable position to hold,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Goldstuck further said that the council is essentially \u201cnon-existent\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there’s no platform for it to communicate with the minister or to the minister, then in effect it doesn’t exist. It exists on paper but not in practice,\u201d Goldstuck said.<\/p>\n Fin24 reached out to the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services for comment but at the time of writing had not yet received a response.<\/p>\n Fin24<\/a><\/p>\n Broadband Infraco begs for R1 billion govt bailout<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n City of Joburg takes control over 900km fibre broadband network<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on broadband<\/h3>\n