Chairperson, the mandate of the Department of Communications is crucial for the improvement of the quality of life of all citizens of our country, and in particular in narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor through empowering the underprivileged communities with the necessary information communication technologies, ICT, skills.
In the interest of time, I will confine my contribution to this debate to three critical areas that affect the poorest of the poor who live in the rural areas of our country, such as the district of Inkandla where I come from: firstly, matters connected to our beleaguered public broadcaster, the SABC; secondly, the South African Post Office; and thirdly, the poor ICT infrastructure in rural areas.
With or without the problems currently besetting the SABC, the people in most rural areas, who are not lucky enough to be located near major urban areas, do not enjoy equitable access to and service from SABC TV, let alone other channels like e.tv. This will, no doubt, leave them out of the loop for enjoyment of the 2010 World Cup matches. I urge the department to take steps to live up to the parameters of its mandate.
The second issue relates to the poor service provided by the South African Post Office. I am aware that its mandate has been expanded to include the role it can and should play in the ICT industry and in expanding the banking services to the rural areas, in particular. Even its very basic function of delivering letters is far from satisfactory, and we know how crucial this service is, especially in the rural areas of our country. The third and the last issue is that of poor servicing of rural areas when it comes to telecommunications, in particular telephony. Telkom, which is a state-owned enterprise, appears to have almost abandoned its mandate to provide this service throughout the country. In the rural areas, in particular, even cellular phone companies do not prioritise installing masts to improve connectivity.
For example, when I'm at home I still cannot use my cellular phone, unless I walk a distance of 3 to 5 km to climb the nearest hill in order to access a very erratic network to download messages and to make a quick phone call. Use of the internet and e-mail is still a pipedream - this also applies to schools and clinics in those areas. As long as the people in the rural areas are left out with regard to the basic services of telephony and access to TV, they will not be able to benefit from the democracy dividend and will not participate effectively in the furtherance and entrenchment of our democracy. However, the IFP supports this Budget Vote. [Applause.]