President Jacob Zuma’s new look ministries within the Information and communications technology (ICT) space has drawn criticism from industry experts, with the DA calling it a Monty Python\u00a0hash-up.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Zuma announced the launch of a new Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services, and changed the department of communications to include more functions.<\/p>\n
The new telecoms ministry is to be led by former Minister of State Security, Siyabonga Cwele,while the communications department would be led by relative newcomer, Faith Muthambi.<\/p>\n
The \u201cnew\u201d department of communications will be formed out of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), the SABC, GCIS, Brand SA and the Media Development and Diversity Agency.<\/p>\n
DA MP Marian Shinn said that putting telecoms and postal services into one ministry seems like a backward move into the pre-convergence days of the Department of Posts and Telecommunications of the old South Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is absurd and undermines the moves towards convergence introduced via the ECAct. I fail to see the logic of these moves,\u201d said Shinn.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems to have been made with little understanding of the ICT sector, its complexities and potential. Monty Python couldn\u2019t have made a better hash-up of the sector than President Zuma has done here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shinn said that she is still seeking clarity on the role the two \u2018communications\u2019 ministries will play in the ICT sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill this department [Telecommunications and Postal Services] develop its own strategies and policies \u2013 or will these be done by the rival department \u2013 Communications \u2013 which is charged with policy and strategy for communications? What a botch up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Shin said that she understands the grouping of SABC, GCIS, Brand SA and MDDA as the new department of communications.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all associated with the ANC government\u2019s desire to have increasing control of media outlets and propaganda \u2013 as undesirable as this is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us be under no illusions about this ministry\u2019s intentions. If SABC is to be housed here it must be stripped down to being a state \u2013 not public \u2013 broadcaster and the commercial stations sold off to private enterprise,\u201d said Shinn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis should be the Ministry of Propaganda: policy, strategy and the regulatory functions of Icasa have no place here. It should be set free to be seen to be a fully independent Chapter 9 institution,\u201d said Shinn.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should be with telecommunications and postal services in pursuit of communications convergence and is support of economic ingenuity and consumer-friendly competitiveness that will see South Africa become an ICT empowered nation of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shinn said she fears that Zuma\u2019s announcement is desperately sad news for SA\u2019s ICT sector and the communities it serves.<\/p>\n
Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions director Dominic Cull said that two new Ministers, one new deputy and new institutional arrangements will inevitably lead to further delays where they simply cannot be afforded.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not clear at this stage how the two Ministries will interact but the recent drive towards greater regulation of online content appears to be a factor in the decision to create a Telecommunications and Postal Services Ministry,\u201d said Cull.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll-in-all this does not feel like a positive move for communications in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duplication of roles<\/strong><\/p>\n ICT analyst and World Wide Worx MD, Arthur Goldstuck, said that the justification given for the separation of ministries is the growing importance of ICT, but that doesn\u2019t explain Icasa being placed in the communications ministry, as opposed to the telecommunications ministry.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can expect tremendous confusion, duplication of roles or responsibility, and therefore the potential of decisions falling into the cracks in between the two,\u201d said Goldstuck.<\/p>\n \u201cMore important, though, is this question: If telecommunications is so important, why dump a Minister who was widely viewed as the most effective in many years, and bring in a replacement who already has question marks over his head about lack of performance in his previous Ministry?\u201d asked Goldstuck.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s almost as if the Government wants telecommunications to be held back in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n This article first appeared on MyBroadband<\/a><\/p>\nMore on telecoms<\/h3>\n