Interviews of short-listed candidates for appointment as Counsellors at ICASA: day 2

Meeting report

Interviews of Candidates for ICASA Council
The following questions were asked to the short-listed candidates: 

●Candidates were asked what experience and skills they were bringing to ICASA.

●Candidates were asked if appointed what contribution they would make to the Board.

●They were asked how they would increase transformation and diversity in the communications industry.

●Candidates were asked to explain the research they had done in improving communication infrastructure work in the country.

●They were asked what needed to be done to make the communications spectrum and frequency more affordable and accessible to the public.

●Candidates were asked if appointed what they would do to simplify the process of applying to ICASA by communities and how they would impart the knowledge of ICASA to consumers.

●Candidates were asked whether their political affiliations would hinder them from performing their duties professionally.

●They were asked what they would do to ensure rural communities received information about ICASA.

●They were asked whether they would have enough time to fulfil their roles on the Council.

●They were asked to explain the strength and weaknesses of ICASA, and what they would do to improve any shortcomings.

●Candidates were asked what they understood about the independence of ICASA.

●Candidates were asked to elaborate on several sections of the ICASA Act that had strengthened the role of the regulator.

●Candidates were asked to explain the perception that ICASA regulations were considered very weak.

●Candidates were asked what regulations inhibited ICASA from carrying out its mandate.

●They were asked whether the regulator was in the right direction in terms of what it wanted to achieve.

●They were asked to explain their understanding of the functions of ICASA.

●They were asked to explain the role of the Minister of Communications in relation to ICASA with regard to spectrum management and policy formulation.

●Candidates were asked how they would they make sure that there were mechanisms to promote diversity and development in the communications industry.

●Candidates were asked whether they have studied the ICASA Act and what they thought was its critical role.

●They were asked how they would ensure that ICASA branches have their own equipment for testing instead of relying on operators.

●They were asked whether ICASA focused on its legislative mandate, and if so, why they were not seeing proactiveness on the part of the regulator in terms of competition. Was that the problem of the Act or was it due to the incompetence of staff?

●They were asked what partnerships they had envisaged between ICASA and the Department of Communications (DoC).

●Candidates were asked if they had made submissions in terms of the Draft Radio Frequency Migration Plan.

●They were asked how the monitoring system for compliance should be achieved.

●Candidates were asked since they had been nominated for both the SABC Board and ICASA Council, which they would prefer to work for as their first choice.

●Candidates were asked what their opinion was in the interaction between government and universities in terms of research that would benefit communities since South Africa was considered a basic human rights country and there were research limitations.

●They were asked what their opinion was with regard to high communication tariffs.

●They were asked what ICASA should be doing differently when there was no communication reception in other areas of the country.

●They were asked whether there was anything in terms of section 6 of ICASA Act or any conflict of interests that would disqualify them to be considered for the ICASA Council.

●Candidates were asked if they had enough skills to be appointed at the ICASA Council.

●Candidates were asked whether in terms of section 14 of ICASA Act which dealt with confidentiality how were they going to comply with that section as ICASA Councillors and employees of ICASA.

●Candidates were asked how they were going to deal with the stabilisation and transformation of ICASA.

●They were asked what role ICASA should take in dropping mobile communication rates.

●Candidates were asked whether there was a need for a digital policy framework.

●Candidates were asked why they thought they were the best candidate for the job in relation to their qualifications and skills.

●They were asked if they knew the content of the ICASA Act and whether it was sufficient to fulfil the current challenges.

●Candidates were asked to explain their understanding of the independence of ICASA as spelt out in the Act, and especially in South Africa with the new era of convergence and liberalisation.

●They were asked what they taught about the general perception that the ICASA regulation interventions were very weak.

●Candidates were asked to explain how they view the funding model of ICASA.

●They were asked if consumers were aware and informed about ICASA and what they would do to ensure that consumers were sufficiently informed.

●They were asked to explain whether ICASA was obliged to report to the Minister.

●Candidates were asked whether the draft regulations of promoting digital migration by ICASA would strengthen the involvement of the community in Digital Divide Television (DDT).

●They were asked how they would resolve potential conflict between service providers and ICASA in meeting service obligations and what they thought the role of ICASA should be in monitoring whether those obligations were met with service providers.

●Candidates were asked to explain the relationship between the Minister, DOC and ICASA with regard to digital migration, and who was responsible for the analogue switch off deadline to DDT.

●Candidates were asked what could be done to make communications networks more accessible to poor rural communities.

●They were asked what had been given as an incentive to ensure enterprise development in poor rural communities.

●Candidates were asked to explain why ICASA was using equipment from industry for testing.

●They were asked what they would do to make sure that ICASA had sufficient equipment.

●They were asked to explain ICASA’s autonomy since National Treasury gave the regular funds to run its operation and what were the best international practices to retain ICASA’s autonomy in real terms, and if there were any implicit implications or underlying factors that would undermine the autonomy of ICASA directly or indirectly.

●Candidates were asked what they would do to ensure corporate governance at ICASA, and how would they ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the ICASA Council.

●They were asked how they would deal with change management at ICASA.

●Candidates were asked if they were familiar with the King 3 report that required members of boards to have necessary skills, and if they have enough skills to be part of the board.

●Candidates were asked how they felt about the composition of the ICASA Council, and if was it correctly composed in terms of its numbers.

●They were asked how they felt about the independence of ICASA and its role as an institution.

 The Chairperson thanked all candidates for availing themselves for interviews.

The meeting was adjourned.

[Please refer to audio recording for responses].