Hon Chairperson, I am tempted to start off by thanking my sister here, hon Tsebe, for having assisted me a lot in responding to so many issues that I did not know how to handle. For example, Ntate Mfundisi, you talked about schools and I was totally confused when you spoke about 250 schools whilst all I remembered was that we had 500 Dinaledi schools. And all those schools have been connected except for 125.
Bab' uMncwango, bengingasazi ukuthi ngizothini mina ngoMnyango wezoLwazi neziNhlelo zokuXhumana kuHulumeni ngoba angisebenzi khona. Mina ngikhuluma ngoMnyango wezobuChwepheshe bezokuXhumana, ngikhuluma ngamakhompyutha, ezobuchwepheshe njalonjalo. Yingakho ngivele ngadideka nje, ngaleyo ndlela ngifuna ukubonga udadewethu umhlonishwa Tsebe. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Mr Mncwango, I didn't know what to say about the Government Communication and Information System because I don't work there. I am talking about Information and Communication Technology; I am talking about computers, technology, etc. That is why I was confused. I would like to thank my sister, hon Tsebe.]
Angibuyele kuwe-ke Sihlalo ngibonge kutsi usisekele kakhulu emsebentini wetfu njengelitiko ngesikhatsi uhola likomiti lesigungu savelonkhe. Sibonga kutsi uphawule tindzawo lekufanele kutsi ngabe siyatishukumisa, sitisebenta ngendlela lengiyo. Kwekucala nje, tindleko tekutsintsana tisabita kakhulu kantsi netindleko tekuchumanisa kwangekhatsi nome imitselo ema-rates, kusabita.
Angibuyele lapha ka-SABC, ngisho kutsi lamuhla Bosihlalo kanye Nesikhulu Sebaphatsi Betikhundla, CEO, bevile kutsi kufanele bayewubuka sicephu se-10 nesicephu se-11, natsi sitabakhutsata sisebente kanye nabo kute behlukanise. Inkinga nje kutsi babe netinkinga tetimali, njengobe sisengakakhoni kufika esivumelwaneni sekwati kutsi bona basekelwa ngesamba lesingakanani. Ngicabanga kutsi ngiko nje betibadida letintfo-kodvwa-ke sitabasita kutsi bakwati kugucula simo. Angetsembise-ke, sihlalo kutsi sitalibeka libhodi lekwengamela tekusakata kungakabi sikhatsi lesidze kusukela lamuhla.
Sakhiwonchanti semsebenti webhizinisi lesingakayisebentisi imali yaso ngalokufanelekile kufanele silekelelwe. Sivile sihlalo kutsi kubaluleke kakhulu kutfutfukisa kusebentisa sabelo setfu setimali. Loko sitakwati kukwenta masinyane nje nasisuka lapha lamuhla. Lokunye lesikhuluma ngako kutsi le-broadband kufanele kutsi icale kusetjentiswa. Kantsi lokunye, sikhuluma nangekuhamba kwebantfu, lokusho kutsi-ke lemali itabe iyasebenta. (Translation of Siswati paragraphs follows.)
[Let me thank you again, Chairperson, for supporting us a lot in our work as a department when you were still chairperson of the portfolio committee. We thank you because you talked about places that we should activate and work on in a proper way. Firstly, the costs of communication are still high and the costs or rates of internal connection are also still high.
Let me get back to the SABC, and state that today the chairpersons and the Chief Executive Officer, heard that they should go and check chapter 10 and chapter 11. We are also going to encourage and work together with them so that they can make a difference. The problem is that they have encountered financial problems, since we have still not agreed on the amount they should get for support. I think that is why things were not in order - but we will help them to turn things around. Let me promise, Chairperson, that we will appoint the board that will preside over broadcasting in a short while from today.
A business service infrastructure that did not spend its money properly should be helped; we get it, chairperson, that it is very important to improve in regard to spending our appropriation. We will be able to do that today, as soon as we leave this place. Another thing that we are talking about is that the use of broadband should start. And to add to this, we are talking about the movement of people which means that, that money will be used.]
Regarding access to information, we agree with the chairperson on the fact that everybody in the country should receive broadband services. We must also assure the chairperson that we have spoken to both the SABC and Sentech to make sure that when we talk about coverage we don't mean population coverage; from now onwards we mean geographical coverage. I think we will be able to do that.
I must also assure you that on the strategy of digital terrestrial transmission, DTT, we have already appointed the team that deals with the issues of DTT, as I said in my speech. Therefore, I believe that the integrated strategy will come out of the department very soon. That will include what the other state-owned enterprises, SOEs, are supposed to be doing. Lagging behind in terms of the broadband processes, as I said, is the fact that we don't have a national broadband strategy and we are in the process of handling it.
Regarding the SA Post Office and the decline in respect of mail - as Sapo is here, we are going to encourage them, as we have done before, to actually adopt the e-skills programme, which will help them in terms of the challenges that you have raised.
With regard to the Postbank, indeed we agree with the chairperson that the progress is not sufficient. However, we were waiting for the two policies that were supposed to have been finalised between us and the Treasury, which are the lending policy and the borrowing policy. We want to report to Parliament today that we have finalised it and the Minister of Finance supported us.
I don't know what to say to the hon Shinn, because as I stand here I have a responsibility to roll out broadband for the country and make sure that every South African has access to broadband. So, I don't know whether I should be talking about the Western Cape; I mean, I have nine provinces to look out for and you are talking about one province. Now, I am asking myself whether I should be responding to you or not, and I have chosen not to, and you know why.
Pertaining to the colloquium, hon Shinn, you must understand that even at the colloquium we did say that that colloquium was actually the beginning of the policy review. We know where we should be going and we know the processes of Parliament, as well as our responsibility. So, if you missed what I said in my opening remarks, I don't know what to say now. I did indicate that that was a process of allowing everybody else to participate and that in the process of all the processes other people will still be able to participate; and maybe you can also participate then.
Regarding resources at the SABC versus the wishes in respect of many channels, I think I will leave that for another day when I come back to the Portfolio Committee on Communications, PCC, and try to explain to you what it means. Of course, you spoke about Telkom and Korea Telecom, KT. I don't know what that is because I never spoke about it, and I am not going to respond to it, hon Shinn.
I also want to say that the Presidential National Commission, PNC, has been included in one of our programmes and therefore we are not going to be closing it - we want to assure you that it is still going on.
I actually want to say thank you, hon Kilian, for supporting us. I was listening to you and you were supporting us, except that there were these issues that hon Tsebe addressed, and I am not going to go back to those. All the issues around your concern about migration - I don't think there is any confusion on the subject of migration.
I want to reaffirm here in this Parliament that we are actually heading in the right direction with this programme. If you looked at our awareness campaign you would see that it actually explains things even to the person who might not necessarily understand what ICT is. We have made it so simple, asked and answered questions, so that everybody in the country understands. We have done our best and we will continue doing our best. So, if there is anywhere where there seems to be confusion, we will try and clarify it.
I have already spoken about the expenditure on the infrastructure enterprises - the squabbles in the SABC. You know, I thought once in a while, hon Kilian, you would appreciate that we have done a good job at the SABC. There are no squabbles at the SABC. I don't know why we thrive on wanting to go back to the negative on a daily basis, even when there is a positive.
By the way, I must say this. You know there is a self-help author, Brian Tracy. In his book Losers make excuses, winners make progress he says: "On the shoulders of all of us as individuals we have two wolves. The one wolf is white and the other wolf is black. You have to choose which one to feed." On SABC matters, I choose to feed the white wolf, which is positive.
I think I have to appreciate that hon Newhoudt-Druchen raised all the matters around the role of SOEs, the Universal Service and Access Agency of SA, Usaasa, and the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa, Nemisa. The Deputy Minister spoke about these things relating to training and vacancies. We want to assure this House again that we are on track in filling the positions in all the SOEs, as I said in my speech.
We have already advertised posts, and even in the department we have advertised posts. The infrastructure did not have a deputy director-general for a long time. We have advertised and we are going to be interviewing - and spending will definitely happen.
Concerning set-top box manufacturing skills and set-top box connectivity, I think that the Deputy Minister could have raised it if her time had not been up before finalising it. However, we are now training young people at Nemisa in technical skills to do the job. The other thing is that, as a department, we have a training programme with Telkom for unemployed youth, where young people are going to benefit from what they are now being trained in.
The other part is that we have already engaged the unemployed graduate organisations. We spoke to them and told them that we were willing to retrain or reskill and upskill all those young people who are sitting there unemployed. I believe that at the SABC they will need more young people when we add those channels, and that is job creation. When we talk about content development, we will need those young people to create their own jobs. I think that is a positive for me.
I am happy that the CEOs and the chairpersons of the SOEs are sitting here, including the director-general of the department, as well as the industry. You heard for yourselves when hon Newhoudt-Druchen requested that we should try and increase the appointment and the training of disabled people. So, I believe that you heard and you are going to assist the department and me in going in that direction.
I have already responded to the issues raised by the hon Mfundisi.
I appreciate the fact that hon Kekana's comments were very positive. We agree with you on the importance of infrastructure for economic development, as well as the fact that we should learn from other countries. When we talk about infrastructure, especially broadband, I must say that we actually visited other countries. Just last week we were in Malaysia and we found that - for those who don't believe that one can double one's efforts once one has national broadband - Malaysia was at about 31% in 2009, and today they have doubled that number because they put in the effort. I want to assure you that standing here on a daily basis doing work in that department, we can do that and we will do it.
Chairperson, I think I am done here, except for the fact that I want to thank my family, who are here today and have always been very supportive. I know that it has not been easy, but they have always been there for me. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.