Chairperson, I'm intimidated because when the clock was brought to me I saw that the minutes were already down! I'm not starting at 15 minutes, and that is why I took some time to look at the clock.
Chairperson, hon members of the House, members of the Cabinet, hon Minister of Communications, hon Deputy Minister of Communications, members of the Portfolio Committee on Communications, the newly appointed Director-General of the Department of Communications and the staff, the chairperson and other councillors of the Independent Communications Authority of SA, Icasa, board members and chief executive officers of the state-owned enterprises, SOEs, chairpersons, board members, CEOs, and senior captains of information and communications technology, ICT, and the postal industry, members of the media, all of you who are here, and comrades, it is my pleasure to introduce on behalf of the committee the Budget Debate on Vote No 27 of the Department of Communications.
The ANC maintains that information and communications technology plays an important role in national development. The success or failure of the ICT interventions to enable development will continue to depend on how all spheres of government, including state-owned enterprises, conceptualise ICT and development.
We are encouraged that the Minister is placing more emphasis on the use of ICT. We also note that the department and its SOEs' delivery programmes will be directed at specific developmental activities, such as job creation and making ICT and postal services available specifically in rural communities with clear deliverables and within set time frames.
The key question which we should be asking ourselves as a nation and a country is how we achieve this expansion of infrastructure as a developmental state. We must acknowledge that the wisdom to develop policies does not reside on one side, whether the committee in Parliament, the Department of Communications or the industry. It needs all of us to collectively approach it and coherently agree in regard to the path we as a country need to follow.
We are encouraged by aspects of the current situation, although we have noted that the department is overstretched. However, one of the key challenges we are facing is the fragmented manner in which policies are being introduced, without analysis of the effect of such policies on the sector. These are the issues which we have raised with the department, and these are the matters they will be attending to.
We welcome the appointment of the director-general. This should bring about much needed stability, improve corporate governance, and in turn improve productivity and service delivery. The chapter of all outstanding human resource matters must be closed.
We are pleased that the department is currently reviewing its organogram. We hope that their reviewed structure will focus on the actual challenges which are facing the department, which are their capacity to develop policies and their ability to look after the state-owned enterprises as the shareholder.
We must acknowledge as we debate today that the regulator is in better shape as regards stability under the leadership of Dr S Mncube. We must also appreciate Icasa's effort of holding a summit with people living with disabilities on 15 and 16 March. In due course we will, however, be taking a report from Icasa because we believe that that summit was not a talk show, but a summit which had to come with recommendations which must be implemented by the regulator and must also be integrated into the programme of the department, the SOEs and so on. So we will welcome that report from the regulator as time goes on.
The committee has previously noted the important shortcoming in the current regulatory processes, namely the absence of regulatory impact assessment before making regulations. As a result, it is not clear what the benefit and cost of some of the regulations are. Furthermore, the regulations drafted are often inadequate and have many a time had to be redrafted soon after they have been put in place.
The regulator continues to react to situations, rather than proactively engaging with the industry. We hope that that will come to an end. We want the regulator to vigorously engage with the industry so that whatever regulation they are embarking on is acceptable, and has the interests of the country and the nation at heart.
Maybe it is time to ask ourselves the difficult questions whether the current structure is still relevant today, as it was before. Do we still need full-time councillors, or do we need to move to part-time counsellors? Do we still need Icasa to be led by counsellors, or do we need Icasa to be led by executives? Those are the questions we must ask ourselves, as hard as it may be, so that we can give clarity and direction.
The issue of adequate resourcing of the regulator is long overdue. It is a matter that we cannot go back and debate about - we expect the department to come up with a clear plan on how we will empower the regulator and resource it so that it is able to execute its duties. You cannot expect the regulator to go to the operators to ask for information and then to be satisfied that they are indeed complying, because they don't have the necessary equipment to deal with or enforce the regulation, and so on.
The industry cannot, however, go scot-free. Our take on this as a committee is that the industry is fragmented. You have approximately 20 organisations in the industry, and it is not workable. We as a committee are not able to engage with you as an industry, so that we can get a common vision. We put it to you as an industry that you must go back and sort yourselves out so that we are able to constructively engage with you. Currently, how to engage with the industry is a nightmare. You must please do that so that we can start to speak with one voice as an industry, to make sure that we better the industry in moving forward.
We must also indicate that one of the priorities of the ANC-led government is job creation, as the Minister has correctly put it. However, we say that we, as a nation, seem to have lost focus. This is because most of the time the first question we should ask ourselves about whatever regulation we come with is how it is going to assist in expanding the ICT infrastructure. When we come up with a policy, the question to ask is how that policy is going to assist us in making sure that we expand the infrastructure.
By coming up with regulations and policies that do not help us to expand the infrastructure, it would seem that we are continuing to disadvantage the people in rural areas that have not benefited under apartheid. They continue not to benefit, even now, because we are unable to expand the infrastructure. We call upon the regulator, the department, ourselves as a committee and the industry to start to focus on that particular matter. That is a matter of national interest. On the issue of the spectrum we as the ANC are clear and on record that whatever road we take in regard to the spectrum should be developmental in nature. We cannot afford to go for an auction for a spectrum just to fundraise for the fiscus, while our people in the rural areas still do not have access to ICT infrastructure. So whatever policy we have and whatever regulation the regulator comes up with must ensure that we address the issue of the accessibility of the infrastructure in rural areas. There are no two ways about this. That is what the ANC resolved in its conference regarding the issue of the spectrum. We also expect that to happen so that the spectrum can stimulate the small, medium and macro enterprises, SMMEs, within the sector.
On the issue of the SABC, we are pleased that the SABC has managed the elections very well. They have surpassed what some of us were expecting them to do - I think the nation now understands what the importance of the public broadcaster is. We are pleased with the way they have managed the elections coverage. They did it in such a way that the late Mr Kgomotso Sebetso, wherever he is and wherever he is resting, will be happy when he looks back on how well the SABC has dealt with the ANC coverage. [Laughter.]
The ANC is the ruling party and, of course, it is ruling. It also has to make sure that its mandate as the ANC is pushed. However, we must also congratulate Dr Ben Ngubane on the sterling work he is doing for the SABC. The board is now stable. They might not be able to do other things, but the fact of the matter is that when you open the newspaper in the morning, you do not read about the SABC any more. You read about other things that are happening in the country. [Applause.]
We should, however, be cautious when the SABC is reviewing its editorial policy. We must make sure that all South Africans participate as much as they can. It should not be an Auckland Park process, but a process that all South Africans participate in. I must remind all fellow South Africans to "Pay your TV licence" - it is a good thing to do.
On the issue of digital migration, we are fully in agreement with the Minister that the process must move with speed, in particular the education of our community, so that they can start to understand what this process means, and how it is going to unfold.
Chairperson, in closing I would like to reiterate the following principles. The department must at all times communicate clear policy statements. The SOEs that fall under the Department of Communications governance structure must ensure that their communications messages are aligned to those of the Ministry and the department. All deliverables and timelines must be adhered to without fail. The department must ensure that it secures professional and knowledgeable resources that will drive its programme of action. Human resource development and mentorship programmes must be intensified in partnership with sector members.
The ANC will not allow any failure in the programme as outlined by the Minister. We are also encouraged that the budget as requested is sufficient in the short to medium term to address our ICT and postal needs. It is important that ICT continues to play a pivotal role and is a catalyst in our developmental agenda as a developing country. The ANC supports this Budget Vote. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]