I have been advised by the department as follows: -
1. There is no position as South Africa is not a member of or affiliated with “Five Eyes” an intelligence alliance comprising of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and US who are or were parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence, military intelligence, and human intelligence.
2. The Minister and department have not discussed this issue.
3. No.
(4) South Africa’s mobile operators have been responsible for rollout of secure 2G, 3G and 4G networks. This rollout was enhanced by their appropriate multi-vendor strategy of avoiding dependence on one supplier and avoidance of suppliers regarded as high risk. Without dictating the 5G rollout investment, it is the view of Government that the 5G roll-out would follow and consider the same risk principle.
MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP
MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES