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Clarity on ICASA's role 'coming soon'

Bonnie Tubbs
By Bonnie Tubbs, ITWeb telecoms editor.
Johannesburg, 26 Jun 2014
New communications minister Faith Muthambi says questions around the reconfigured ICT ministry will be cleared up soon.
New communications minister Faith Muthambi says questions around the reconfigured ICT ministry will be cleared up soon.

A cloud of ambiguity still hangs over SA's new ICT ministries, with the role of SA's communications regulator - for one - yet to be clarified, but government says it is working on a proclamation that will soon answer the inquiring industry's questions.

This comes a month after president Jacob Zuma announced the Department of Communications (DOC), as it was known, would be split in two.

On the telecoms side, Siyabonga Cwele is now overseeing the new Department of Telecoms and Postal Services (DTPS), while the other - largely a mouthpiece for government - is the new DOC, under Faith Muthambi.

The news has been widely criticised by industry observers, who feel it creates further instability in what was already an unstable department, while some feel the new DOC will essentially act as a "department of propaganda".

The industry is also seeking answers as to why the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has been taken under the DOC's wing - and what this will mean for the regulator's role going forward. There has been talk of an about-turn by government that would place ICASA under the DTPS.

However, at a post-Cabinet briefing this morning, Muthambi said the realignment of the new ministry was not discussed by Cabinet this week.

In response to a question from ITWeb, Muthambi said government would "soon gazette a proclamation" that will answer lingering questions regarding ICASA. "A proclamation will soon be issued and that will include [details around] the transfer of functions. There is an organisational process that needs to take place.

"As to where ICASA belongs, that issue will be resolved [in the proclamation], but for now the president has said [the regulator] is under the DOC."

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