SA Communication Minister, Matsepe-Casaburri unpopular with opposition

SOUTH Africa’s Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri is proving not only unpopular among players in the communication industry but with the main opposition as well.

The Democratic Alliance gave her a rating of 1/10 for 2008, which is the joint lowest ranking the party gave to a cabinet minister.

“South Africa’s telecommunications industry is stagnant because of the Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri’s policy of ‘managed liberalization’. In the face of sustained criticism of her management of this sector, she unsuccessfully applied in September to appeal Judge Davis’s decisive judgment in the Altech case arguing that the ruling undermines her policy of managed liberalization. For this and many other reasons she scores 1 for this year,” said the DA.

In addition to the Altech issue, the DA also mentioned her plans to amend the Electronic Communications Act and the digital migration.

“The Altech ruling now brings years of messy Ministerial interventions and reversals dating back to 2004 to an end by directing that value added network service licenses can build their own networks instead of leasing from others.

“Undeterred by the ruling, the Minister announced her intention to table amendments to the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) to nullify the effects of the judgment despite the fact that Parliament rewrote the ECA in 2005 to usher in full competition because managed liberalization has failed the telecoms industry in the country,” it said.

The party added, “Another indictment was her handling of digital migration. The set of top box specifications which she persuaded Cabinet to agree to will make this decoder unnecessarily expensive to consumers even after the poor receive subsidies. While the Director-General of Communications insists it will make e-government possible, we are yet to be told how. Besides, South Africa needs more channels and choice, not e-government.”–