Department of Communications (DOC) director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole finds it "insulting" that opposition political parties have attacked her character and says she has done nothing "dishonourable".
Yesterday, two political parties, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Democratic Alliance (DA), issued statements commenting on the DOC's decision to appeal the High Court ruling that opened the door for value-added network services (VANS) to self-provide.
Dene Smuts, DA communications spokesman, said in a statement yesterday that, while Shope-Mafole is a member of the ANC's post-Polokwane national executive committee, no one should interpret her anti-competitive stance in this case, or the case of undersea cables, as leftist leanings.
"Like her predecessor [former director-general Andile Ngcaba], who also ruled Ivy's roost, she strikes us as a BEE capitalist, and an ambitious one," Smuts said.
IFP MP Suzanne Vos made similar comments and asked if the DOC really wants to liberalise the sector, or, in fact, keep state control and dole out licences to "party-political pals and other elites".
Shope-Mafole says: "I find comments such as these insulting. If anyone looks into any of my conduct, they will find nothing that is dishonourable."
She grew up in communist countries and her father was a long-standing member of the SA Communist Party; however, she was not a member herself, she adds.
"My entire upbringing was not that of capitalism."
The DG says the reason for the DOC's decision to appeal the VANS court ruling was to ensure the process of managed liberalisation continued. She says that, around the world, large telecommunications operators are regulated.
"An I-ECNS [individual-electronic communications network services] licensee has to be able to operate on the local, provincial and national scopes. It is for large telecommunications operators," she says.
Shope-Mafole also points out that communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri was also involved in the decision to appeal the ruling.
She notes that the Electronic Communications Act stipulates that the communications minister has to issue an invitation to apply for an I-ECNS licence and that the telecommunications regulator, ICASA, cannot just issue these licences.
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