The recommendation by parliament`s Constitutional Review Committee to make the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) a protected entity under the constitution is desirable, but there is still a long process before it happens, committee chairman Mannie Schoeman (ANC) says.
"The committee can only recommend changes to the constitution when it feels events have over taken it, and the wording of the constitution is no longer accurate," he told ITWeb.
The Constitutional Review Committee met earlier this month to hear from Justine White, a legal academic at the University of the Witwatersrand, who recommended the word "broadcaster" be dropped from section 192 of the constitution. This emphasises the need for the independent "broadcasting regulator", to be replaced with "electronic communications regulator".
Originally the Independent Broadcasting Authority was the institution that carried out this role of regulating broadcasting in terms of the constitution, but it merged with the SA Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in 2000 to form ICASA. However, this was done without the existing statutes being changed to accommodate the merger. This now requires a constitutional change to accommodate the full meaning of electronic communications.
"Technology has moved so fast the committee felt that it should adopt White`s proposals," Schoeman says.
Full independence
Dene Smuts (DA) described the adoption of the proposal as "excellent, as it brings ICASA closer to being fully independent.
"Such a move will also keep ICASA away from the clutches of the Department of Communications, which has been attempting to take far greater control of it," she says.
Schoeman says the department`s submission to the Constitutional Review Committee was in line with the legal academic`s proposals. "They were substantially similar," he says.
Department director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole originally caused a stir in the committee when she said: "Just because the word 'independent` appears in ICASA`s name, doesn`t make it independent."
Schoeman says the committee`s recommendation will go to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for it to draft legislation and that will be referred to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development, which will discuss the changes and possibly have further public hearings on the issue.
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