With just over a week before the national elections, a political analyst says it is anyone's guess which new ministers will be elected into key portfolios affecting the ICT industry.
Past appointments to technology-related ministries have proven illogical and have baffled analysts and the public, leaving the field open to speculation.
Aubrey Matshiqi, a senior associate political analyst with the Centre for Policy Studies, says previous Cabinet appointments have revealed the process cannot be successfully predicted. “There is no logic in this regard. One always ends up looking like a fool.”
What tends to happen, he says, is there is reshuffling of existing ministerial seats and few appointments are based on merit and performance. Party loyalty tends to triumph, he says, adding that if Jacob Zuma is elected president of the country, partisan considerations would be key in selections.
Communications woes
There will be a lot of pressure for government to perform in the area of communications, Matshiqi says. “People are arguing that the government has failed them and that the minister has woefully underperformed.
“The government still has to reduce the cost of doing business in the country, reduce the digital divide and the cost of accessing cyber space for the average person,” Matshiqi says.
These were goals which were established with the first democratic elections in 1994 and which are still years away from being realised, he notes.
Matshiqi says no appointment would surprise him, but he does expect the president to make a careful selection to this ministry - following the public disapproval of communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, who died last week.
“If the government wants to improve its service delivery, provide a better life for all and implement its policies successfully, it needs to begin to appoint ministers on merit,” Matshiqi says.
Random appointments
Matshiqi says it is anyone's guess who will be appointed to the top seats in the five technology-related ministries - communications, science and technology, public enterprises, public service and administration and trade and industry.
A case in point is the experience of current public enterprise minister Brigitte Mabandla.
Mabandla has been a Member of Parliament since 1994 and an ANC NEC member since December 2007. As minister, she has been charged with the administration of state-owned enterprises such as Telkom, Sentech and Broadband Infraco.
She was the former deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology from April 1995 until February 2003. She was then appointed minister of housing in February 2003 and vacated the office in April 2004.
She was then made minister of justice and constitutional development until another Cabinet reshuffle in September 2008, following which she was appointed minister of public enterprises.
Related story:
Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri dies
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