Members of Parliament questioned the role of the presidential think tank on information society and development, since it had not met for two years and it seemed unable to explain what its role is.
At a presentation by the Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development (PNC on ISAD) to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, questions were raised just what the role of the commission was - was it part of the Department of Communications (DOC), and just what did it do on a day-to-day basis?
Committee chairman Ismail Vadi commented that he was concerned that the commission was no longer presidential and that it was merely a sub-unit of the DOC. He would schedule a meeting with DOC director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole, Sentech and the PNC on ISAD to clarify this.
The presentation was supposed to be on the PNC on ISAD's Apex Project 3, which entailed the implementation of the Information Society and Development Plan that would see the building up of an inclusive information society through the uptake of ICTs by government and individuals. This is one of 24 Apex priorities mentioned by President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation address delivered this year.
PNC on ISAD COO Mokwining Nhlapo said the main sub-project of the Apex Project 3 was the connectivity of the Dinaledi Schools - those schools identified by the Department of Education as having a particular role to play in teaching mathematics and science subjects. This would be done using national signal distributor Sentech's wireless networks.
The PNC on ISAD was formed in 2001 and its members are made up of people from the domestic ICT industry who are to advise government on various initiatives. People on the commission include Dimension Data chairman Jeremy Ord, Andile Ngcaba, a former DOC director general, CSIR chairman Sibusiso Sibisi, and Altech CEO Craig Venter.
The PNC on ISAD is different from the Presidential International Commission on Information Society and Development, which has a number of internationally prominent ICT business people on its committee, including SA technology billionaire Mark Shuttleworth.
However, most of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) MPs were not convinced that the commission had a clear mandate on what it should be doing.
Kgotso Khumalo said: "Perhaps members would get better answers if the director-general was present. The issue about what the roles of DOC and the PNC are needs clarification. A broader debate was needed."
Lumka Yengeni supported this comment by saying that maybe the DOC director-general should present to the committee on the PNC on ISAD since she was the also the commission's chairperson.
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