SABC Board Appointments; Telecommunications Amendment Bill: finalisation; Department & Universal Service Agency Annual Reports

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Communications and Digital Technologies

14 November 2003
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Meeting Summary

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Meeting report

COMMUNICATIONS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
14 November 2003
SABC BOARD APPOINTMENTS: FINALISATION; TELECOMMUNICATIONS AMENDMENT BILL: VOTING; DEPARTMENT & UNIVERSAL SERVICE AGENCY ANNUAL REPORTS

Chairperson

: Mr M Lekgoro

Documents handed out

Telecommunications Amendment Bill [B65-2003]
Department of Communications presentation
Universal Service Agency presentation
Department Communications Annual Report (available on DoC website shortly)
Universal Service Agency Annual Report
Telkom supplementary submission

SUMMARY
Mr Andrew Maralack was interviewed for consideration on the SABC Board. A supplementary submission by Telkom on the Telecommunications Amendment Bill was heard but not discussed. The Department proposed minor amendments to the Bill and these were accepted and the Bill was passed unanimously.

The Annual Reports of the Department of Communications and Universal Services Agency were presented. Discussion covered the Department/SABC dispute over BopTV liabilities, timeframes and funding for Regional Language Services stations, standards and timeframes for digitisation, the need for ICASA not the Minister to make the final choice of the second national telephone operator, the timeframe for the distribution of the simcards, large expenditure on consultants by the Universal Service Agency, nodal points for telecentres.

During the afternoon session, the Committee finalised the recommendations for appointments to the SABC Board. The list is:
Eddie Funde
Allison Gilwald
Christine Qunta
Fadila Lagadien
Professor Derrick Swartz
Cecil Msomi
Andile Mbeki
Khanyi Mkhonza
Ashwin Trikamjee
Thami Mazwai
Nomboniso Gosa
Andrew Maralack

MINUTES
Interview with Mr A Maralack for SABC Board
The Chairperson allowed for Mr Maralack to be interviewed. During the interview he responded to questions by members that established his personal circumstances, background, experience and what positive contribution he would make as a board member. His answers revealed his work as a chartered accountant, his lack of broadcasting experience, his academic studies that had exposed him to various industries that had given him across-the-board skills, his home language Afrikaans, his "exclusive knowledge" of the SABC). There was particular interest in the change in circumstances that resulted in his request to be reconsidered for an interview but he referred to this as personal reasons. The Chair thanked him for his responses to the member's questions and re-availing himself for the appointment. He noted that the Committee would decide on the twelve appointees later that day and publish the their names.

Telkom submission on Telecommunications Amendment Bill
Telkom, represented by Ms R Naidoo and Mr N Kekana, made a supplementary submission to the Committee in support of their proposal that Sentech not be declared a public operator. They stressed the implications of the lack of definitive definitions in the regulations and legislation. However, they suggested as an alternative that the Committee consider inserting a clause in the Bill that would allow Sentech to lease facilities at wholesale prices rather than declaring them a public operator. The Chairperson said that he would allow comment on the submission when the clauses were formally considered for adoption.

Department's proposed amendments to the Telecommunications Amendment Bill
Mr P Pongwana (Deputy Director General in Department) indicated some amendments the Department wanted to add to the Amendment Bill:

Clause 1 that amends Section 43 of the Telecommunications Act, 1996
1. to omit "(or 38)" and substitute "…,38, 39 and 40A"

Clause 2 that amends Section 44 of the Telecommunications Act, 1996
1. to omit "or 38" and substitute "…, 38, 39 and 40A".

Voting on Telecommunications Amendment Bill
The Committee noted but received no comments from committee members about the supplementary submission made by Telkom.

The Amendment Bill with the additional amendments were voted on by the. The Telecommunications Amendment Bill was unanimously adopted with amendments.

Department of Communications Annual Report 2002/3: presentation
Dr Andile Ngcaba (Director General) presented the Annual Report (see presentation). During his introduction he stressed the Department's commitment to link all their activities with their mission and vision. He noted that the Telkom share value has doubled in value within six months since March.

Universal Service Agency (USA) Annual Report 2002/3: presentation
Dr S Gulube (CEO) presented the Annual Report (see presentation). He made particular mention of the rollout of the telecentres, cyberlabs, multipurpose community centres (MPCC) and internship programme projects. The intention for the E-reading project for teachers was to deploy 100 such programmes in schools in the various provinces. Teachers will be trained with the first five computers installed at the school and after teachers have been trained to properly use these first, they would install the next 25. The Department was working closely with Telkom about the cyberlabs rollout. At Local Government level there was co-operation with Government Communications and Information System (GCIS) for the rollout of MPPCs. They would also continue to train a minimum of 12 interns at a time because this project has also proved to be successful. Research was ongoing to establish definitions within the Telecommunications Act, teledensity (cellular and fixed line) penetration and develop technology that was community- needs driven.

Discussion
Ms D Smuts (DA) inquired about the apparent dispute with the SABC. In her understanding of the Public Finance Management Act, the Board was directly responsible for its assets and in the case of financial mismanagement stood accountable. Based on a statement by the previous SABC Board Chair, Dr Vincent Maphai, she also gathered that the SABC did not own Bop-TV but merely managed it. She asked for clarification because she interpreted Dr Ngcaba to imply that Bop was owned by the SABC under the TBVC Broadcasters Act. If that were the case, she would question why the SABC was told that they were only managing Bop. She would not blame the SABC Board for problems encountered with the implementation of the integration of TVBC Broadcasters Act.

Dr Ngcaba replied that he was directly involved in 1995 with legislation to integrate the telecommunications of the former TBVC states - all their assets and liabilities - into the Post Office, SABC and Telkom. They decided in that Integration Committee, chaired by himself, to continue to fund the integration process over time to allow it to happen without pain. The law would confirm that SABC was responsible for the assets and liabilities of Bop. He disagreed with Ms Smuts because he was guided by the law and would not propagate something contradictory. It was also confirmed that between 1996-1998 legal action was engaged, successfully, to transfer the broadcasting licence of Bop to the SABC. He said answers could be found in the law and was available from the library. Consultation with the stakeholders was ongoing and he gave the assurance that a solution would be found.

Ms Smuts asked what the Department was doing to persuade government for funding for the Regional Language Services. Also, had standards and timeframes been set for digitisation?

Dr Ngcaba said that they were working towards ensuring that regional services become Public-Private Partnerships. A good funding model that ensured shared risk, was being considered and he suggested that all the stakeholders should feel delighted about this innovation. He was considering a detailed presentation to the Committee on how the model would work.
With regards to digitisation, he said that standards have not been set, yet. The investment required for this project was quite large and here again, they were looking to a good PPP model for an answer. He agreed that the matter should be treated with urgency because the longer they postpone implementation, the more expensive it would become to implement.

Ms Smuts expressed concern about the appointment of the second national telephone operator (SNO) when she referred to a problem surrounding the circumvention of ICASA by the Minister during the first bidding process, which was permissible under Section 35(A),. The final choice, she believed, should still be with ICASA. She also asked about the timeframe for the distribution of the much-publicised simcards.

Dr Ngcaba said that ICASA was managing the process and assured the Committee that they were on track with the plan to introduce the SNO because government was serious about competition in this sector. The Department was looking at a way of introducing the simcard system. He was confident that the system would benefit everybody, especially those not in the communications technology loop.

The Chair asked for an elaboration on the establishment of regional stations. He was under the impression that there was a problem with the lack of money. He asked if anything was budgeted for in this regard, because it seemed likely that they would miss out on this financial cycle. The SABC Board had apparently been informed that Treasury expected a PPP package before they would release any money. What were the timeframes, would they have to wait for another 18 months if the money was provided?

Dr Ngcaba said they were targeting the next financial year,. April 2004 to March 2005. During that window period they hope to wrap up the PPP package.

Mr R Pieterse followed up on the Bop/SABC dispute. He sensed a serious misunderstanding and expressed disappointment about the dispute having been widely publicised. He requested that the matter be resolved as soon as possible because there was an amount outstanding that needed to be accounted for. Finally he asked when distribution of the simcards would take place and requested more information about cyberlabs.

Dr Ngcaba said they were targeting 1 million simcard recipients p.a. during the first quarter of next year. He said the distribution channel would not be difficult but the agreement that needed to be established between government and the recipient and how the identified recipient would be reached had to be settled first.

Dr Gulube said that a cyberlab would have 30 computers, 5 for teachers and 25 for learners. Although USA's aim was to link all cyberlabs to the internet, not all schools were currently linked. A telecentre would have 10 computers in a community centre. Following a review with their board it has been agreed that these computer/telecentres become part of a community development centre or MMCCs to avoid these telecentres become "corner shops" standing on their own. A full list with details of these centres would be made available to the Committee by next week.

Mr W Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC) asked the USA about projects in the Western Cape. Were there places in the Western Cape that could be considered as nodal points? She also noted that more money was being spent on consultants than staff and asked if Dr Gulube would give examples of what they did.

Dr Gulube replied that they would focus on Khayelitsha in the Western Cape where three telecentres have already been rolled out. They would also identify nodal points in the Great Karoo for telecentres. The reason for consultant expenditure during this financial year was because they had consulted with academics as well as other telecommunications experts during the review process.

The Chairperson said it would correct to focus on the rural poor but cautioned against neglecting the urban poor. He asked the USA for an indication of the project spread in urban areas.

Dr Gulube agreed that they should focus on all poverty-stricken areas. They were in consultation with Sentech to look at the prospects of research for the development of the broadband networks, specifically for townships but also rural areas, to determine its appropriateness and affordability as a cost-effective way of rolling out the infrastructure.

In reply to Ms N Mtsweni asking USA to give a gender-based breakdown of the organisational structure as shown in their Annual Report, Dr Gulube said he was happy to report that 14 out of 24 staff members were female.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting for parties to finalise their choice of recommendations for the new SABC board.

Afternoon session
Finalisation of new SABC board appointments
The Chairperson allowed two minutes for comments to be made by the different parties.

Ms Smuts complained that the Committee did not comply with the suggestion of the legal opinion re the interview of Mr Maralack. The reason for his re application was not explored because the Committee settled for his explanation that it was personal. She believed that the other candidates were now prejudiced and outlined some legislation that should govern the appointment process.

Mrs A Van Wyk (NNP) contextualised the choice before the Committee. She said that the first board of the SABC resulted in destabilisation because of unsuitable appointments. The consequence was that the subsequent board, the outgoing one, had to deal with terrible backlogs of different kinds. She would recommend that the Committee not make appointments that would compromise quality and/or send the wrong message to the public, locally and internationally, that would reflect negatively on our democracy.

Mr Pieterse thanked the outgoing board and commended the credentials of the potential new appointees. He would not overlook the application of Mr Maralack. He quoted the ANC's list of preferred candidates:
Eddie Funde
Allison Gilwald
Christine Qunta
Fadila Lagadien
Prof Derrick Swartz
Cecil Msomi
Andile Mbeki
Khanyi Mkhonza
Ashwin Trikamjee
Thami Mazwai
Nomboniso Gosa
Andrew Maralack

The above list of 12 nominees was subsequently voted on and accepted as the new SABC board. Both Ms Van Wyk and Ms Smuts expressed disappointment and opposition to the appointments, generally.

The NNP choices were:
Prof. A.H. Van Wyk
Ms Margot Luyt
Mr Gert Claassen
Ms Pinky Moholi
Ms Allison Gilward
Mr Frits Kok
Ashwin Trikamjee
Fadila Lagadien
Prof Derrick Swartz
Mr Cecil Msomi
Dr William Rowland

The DA choices were:
Ms Pinky Moholi
Prof. Ruth Teer - Tomaselli
Prof Derrick Swartz
Ms Allison Gilward
Mr Frits Kok
Ashwin Trikamjee
Prof. Guy Berger
Ms Margot Luyt
Mr Raymond Louw
Fadila Lagadien
Ms Jeanette Minie
Prof. A. Van Wyk (for discussion)

The SABC Board recommendations and the Telecommunications Amendment Bill would be debated in the National Assembly on 19 November 2003.

The meeting was adjourned.

 

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