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New comms departments a step closer

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 04 Jul 2014
President Jacob Zuma's next focus will be to transfer administration of legislation and powers to new ministers.
President Jacob Zuma's next focus will be to transfer administration of legislation and powers to new ministers.

Government's new split communications ministries are a step closer to official designation, after president Jacob Zuma signed a proclamation establishing them and abolishing the old structures.

The newly-established Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services and the reconfigured Department of Communications form part of a high-level government shake-up, as outlined in Zuma's new Cabinet announcement in May. The move baffled ICT industry commentators, with many questioning the separation of the entities in a technologically converged sector.

The Presidency further underlined the departments' diverged functions by placing them in separate administrative clusters, whose function is to improve inter-departmental co-ordination.

According to the Presidency, Zuma's next step will be to transfer administration of legislation, powers and functions to relevant ministers in terms of section 97 of SA's Constitution.

The full list of departments in government's shake-up is as follows:

* Department of Communications, which will replace the Government Communications and Information Service;

* Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services;

* Department of Small Business Development (new department);

* Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, which will replace the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation;

* Department of Water and Sanitation, which will replace the Department of Water Affairs; and

* Department of Women, which will replace the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities.

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