ICASA Council Report: consideration; Communications Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report

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Communications and Digital Technologies

03 November 2015
Chairperson: Ms J Moloi-Moropa (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

BRRR 2015-2010: Budgetary Review & Recommendations Reports

The subcommittee deliberated on the challenges regarding some candidates submitted as nominees for councillorship of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.

The DA objected to two names on that list: Mr Thami Ntenteni and Mr Lumko Mtimde, commenting that the former was barred by the ICASA Act provisions as he had a criminal record, and the latter had been an active employee of the ANC/SACP.

 

The Committee considered its Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report. There was consensus that:

  • The observation that South African Broadcasting Corporation was not accurate without including that it had operated a R400 million loss and that the Auditor General of South Africa had been unhappy with how the South African Broadcasting Corporation audit had been completed, and that there was a lack of financial controls at that organisation.
  • AGSA had indicated that the South African Broadcasting Corporation had reduced its matters of emphasis from nine to three, which showed positive direction at that organisation.
  • Consequence management and the use of consultants had to be a threading recommendation for all entities when there was wrongdoing.

 

The Committee also recommended that the process of tendering and its timeframes had to be monitored as turnaround times had been unbelievably quick.

Meeting report

Consideration of Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) Council report (Sub-Committee)

The Chairperson briefed the Committee on the challenges with the filling of vacancies for the ICASA council, especially the matter of Mr Thami Ntenteni.

Mr R Tseli (ANC) said that readvertising the vacancy opened by the removal of Mr Ntenteni would delay the establishment of the council. He suggested the subcommittee resubmit the list with a new order to the Committee.

Ms D Tsotetsi (ANC) said the Committee was not entirely certain that all the nominees were not politically aligned and that it expected them to commit themselves to the regulations of the agency they were nominated for. Moreover, the reason that there were always more nominees recommended for appointment was to safeguard against individuals recusing themselves from a position soon after appointment, or when what had happened with Mr Ntenteni had arisen.

Ms V Van Dyk (DA) said the ICASA Act provided for her objection on Mr Lumko Mtimde being recommended for the council.

Ms Tsotetsi said that even Members of Parliament (MPs) when elected for Parliament had to recuse themselves from potentially conflicting responsibilities as would be required of Mr Mtimde.

The Chairperson summarised that the Committee resolved that it still remained with seven candidates and there would be an advertisement for two vacancies, including that of the Chairperson of the council. The Minister of Communications would have to fill four vacancies. She then read the names of the candidates recommended, excluding that of Mr Ntenteni. She asked for consensus from the Committee on whether they agreed to the list so that it could be submitted to the full Committee for adoption.

Ms Van Dyk said that she would like it to be recorded that the DA had objected to Mr Mtimde being on that list.

The Chairperson agreed that that would be recorded as an objection based on the allegation that he was a dual member of the tripartite alliance.

The subcommittee agreed and the full Committee was convened to consider the report of the subcommittee on the list of candidates to be submitted to the Minister for the ICASA council.

Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR)

Ms R Van Schalkwyk (ANC) proposed that the Committee go directly to the recommendations and not the whole report.

Ms Tsotetsi suggested a substantive rewording of a particular sentence in the report.

The Committee considered the report.

Ms P Van Damme (DA) noted a grammatical correction that had to be incorporated.

The Chairperson continued reading.

Ms Van Damme said the statement regarding the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was not accurate without including that it had operated a R400 million loss and that the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) had been unhappy with how the SABC audit had been completed and that there was a lack of financial controls at that organisation.

Ms F Nkadimeng (ANC) asked for clarity as to whether new recommendations were allowed. 

The Chairperson said that that was not the case.
There were salient issues that though the SABC was not perfect yet it had however, moved from a very bad situation to a better situation.

Ms Tsotetsi concurred that the loss could be incorporated provided that there was improvement in SABC’s finances.

Mr Tseli said it also had to be noted that AGSA had indicated that the SABC had reduced its matters of emphasis from nine to three, which to him showed positive direction at that organisation.

The Chairperson concurred that all those matters would be incorporated.

Mr Tseli said that matters of emphasis on the observations were the under spending and paying of bonuses even when targets were not met.

Ms Van Dyk said ICASA had said it had not paid bonuses, as it had not performed well.

The Chairperson said that that would need to be verified.

Ms Tsotetsi said consequence management had to be a recommendation for all entities when there was wrongdoing.

Mr Tseli said the moratorium on ensuring compliance of community radio stations (CRSs) had to be supported by the department by monitoring the adherence to that moratorium.

The Chairperson concurred that that observation included ICASA, as it was the licensor of CRSs.

Mr Tseli suggested that maybe the Committee could suggest the Minister raise funding for SABC as it observed that the 2% current funding was not sufficient.

Ms Van Damme asked that a recommendation relating to financial controls at the SABC be also included.

Ms Van Dyk said that she had suggested BrandSA had to report on the impact of the new VISA regulations on tourism. 

Ms Van Schalkwyk said there was a need for a recommendation on the process of tendering and its timeframes.

Mr Tseli said the issue of using consultants and consequence management had to thread through all the entities of the department as a recommendation in the report.

The Chairperson tabled the BRRR to the Committee.

The BRRR was adopted with the DA objecting to the existence of the Department of Communications and was not in support of a separate budget from that of telecommunications.
 

Consideration of ICASA Council report

The Chairperson briefed the rest of the Committee on what the subcommittee had decided regarding Mr Ntenteni’s candidacy for the ICASA council. She said that the DA had objected to Mr Lumko Mtimde as he had been alleged to be involved in the ANC and SACP. She then tabled the report to the Committee for consideration and adoption.

Ms Van Damme read the ICASA Act provision barring councillorship of individuals known to be remunerated for their political party work and repeated Ms Van Dyk’s objection.

The Chairperson said Mr Mtimde was never an office bearer or an employee of the ANC, which was why the ANC was rejecting the DA’s objection.

The report was adopted with DA objecting to Mr Mtimde’s candidacy.

The meeting was then adjourned.

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