An Act of nightmare proportions

RICA is going to be an absolute mess up. Government seems to have a habit of enacting laws that it cannot really police, but this one is a winner. And the effects are going to ripple through the economy.

The Act, with the long name of the Regulation of Interception and Provision of Communication-related Information Amendment Act, requires all mobile operators - and as a result anyone selling SIM cards - to register prepaid customers.

It's bad enough standing in the queue at the local Pick n Pay when the little old dear in front decides she wants to either pay her phone bill, or municipal bill at the till. But my mind boggles at the thought of someone plonking down a SIM card package after unloading enough groceries to feed the Israeli army.

Fortunately, many retailers have integrated the new requirements into their point-of-sale systems. And there is also a terminal that can collate all the information, which retailers have been provided by cellular company Vodacom.

This will save the teller from stopping everything and asking the little old dear for her ID book and proof of address and then running off to photocopy the lot, before returning with a mountain of forms to be filled in.

Even if retailers like Pick n Pay decide to confine selling SIM cards to the cigarette kiosk, the new law is going to cause more trouble than any little piece of plastic smaller than a stamp deserves.

And what about the little corner caf'e? I can't imagine the cellular companies providing the hundreds of small shops around the country with the systems they need to register new cards.

There is the possibility that these details can be captured through a cellphone, as MTN has been going into the rural areas to do so. But this leaves the question of whether the caf'e owner would have to use his, or her, own phone to do this. That could become a costly exercise.

And has anyone thought about the very poor people who habitually buy SIM cards when they run out of airtime, instead of recharging? It's cheaper for these folk to buy a new number that comes with some free airtime, than to recharge.

Or, maybe it could allow homeless people to take their cardboard shack with them when buying a new card?

Nicola Mawson, group financial editor, ITWeb

I doubt these people - who should be government's major concern - have fixed abodes. And even if they did, proving it would be nigh impossible.

Government should change fixed abode requirements to allow a photograph as proof of residence. Or, maybe it could allow homeless people to take their cardboard shack with them when buying a new card?

Instead, it seems intent on either making it more costly for people to communicate, or cutting them off in a bizarre form of disenfranchisement.

The entire system is meant to assist government in fighting crime: the theory being that criminals won't be able to use SIM cards - and make calls - that would be used for nefarious means.

I think, if I were a criminal, I'd just steal a SIM card. Simple! Or I could get someone to buy one for me, except if government intends limiting the amount of cellphone numbers one can have.

Unless, of course, the registration officer - whose job it is to activate the cards once all the paperwork is done - actually goes as far as double-checking details. But all I can see there is more and more red tape.

There are far too many South Africans - over 40 million - using prepaid as their method of communication. This means quite a lot of man-hours spent on complying with the Act, and this doesn't come cheap.

Perhaps this is just president Jacob Zuma's way of making sure he does manage to create half-a-million jobs in the next few months as promised.