Members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications this morning agreed the central role of Parliament must be restored in managing the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA).
"We are agreed that the centrality of Parliament must be asserted in that we must go ahead with the development of a performance management system for ICASA counsellors," said the committee`s acting chairman Godfrey Oliphant (ANC).
The committee was addressing concerns expressed by president Thabo Mbeki in a letter about the constitutionality of sections seven, nine and 11 of the ICASA Amendment Bill that would govern the appointment of counsellors through a panel of experts appointed by the minister of communications, and the institution of a performance management system for counsellors.
In terms of the proposals being considered by the committee, it will appoint a panel of six members to include industry representatives and possibly someone from the Competition Commission to select future ICASA counsellors.
One of the committee members, Eric Kholwane (ANC), posed three questions relating to the inclusion of a Competition Commission representative instead of a consumer-related representative, why it should be legislated that opposition parties are included in the panel, and, lastly, why Parliament should handle the performance management system.
Sister regulator
In reply, Dene Smuts (DA) said it was a good idea to have a Competition Commission representative on the panel because it is a sister regulator to ICASA.
"They share concurrent jurisdiction and we have expanded the role of ICASA to include economic regulation of the ICT sector."
Smuts said good governance principles relating to the independence of broadcasters were also central to ICASA`s independence.
"The African Union had free-standing documents saying the appointment of broadcasting regulators must be done through multi-party structures."
As far as the performance management system for counsellors was concerned, Smuts said Parliament should be the one to remove ICASA counsellors.
Suzanne Vos (IFP) maintained the position that Parliament must play a central role in appointing statutory body members, such as ICASA counsellors.
"Over the past few years, there has been a trend by the legislature to encroach on Parliament`s jurisdiction. The IFP will debate any clause in this Bill that mentions the minister of communications," she said.
Khotso Khumalo (ANC) contended that there was no need for specific legislation to include minority parties on the panel, as this could limit Parliament`s options in the future. He also said the debate about ICASA`s independence should be centred around the spirit of the constitution, and not just the physics.
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