Democratic Alliance (DA) MPs appeared to have gotten their facts wrong and bordered on irrelevancy in their replies to yesterday's communications budget vote speech, by lending a sense of farce to the proceedings.
Firstly, the DA's shadow minister of communications, Niekki van den Berg, in his reply to communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda, gave a rambling speech about the difference between ideology and philosophy. This prompted ANC MP Ben Turok to ask for the speech to be ruled irrelevant.
Secondly, Van den Berg's deputy, Lindiwe Mazibuko, apparently got her facts wrong when she attacked Nyanda's choice of new Sentech chairperson - Zanele Hlatshwayo - confusing her with the similarly named former mayor of the KwaZulu-Natal city of Msunduzi, who was recently fired.
“This is a typical example of the ANC appointing a person who was fired, who has no financial management [and] no experience of the industry into a position of responsibility,” she said.
At the end of her speech, ANC MP Eric Kholwane jumped up at a point of order, saying the fired mayor and the new Sentech chairperson are not the same person.
Nyanda said Mazibuko had made a “big boo boo and that the honourable member should get her facts straight”.
Communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda
“I don't know if it was the similarity of the names, but for the record, for Hansard (the Parliamentary recording system), I would like to state that it is not the same person,” he said.
In his reply, Nyanda said Mazibuko had made a “big boo boo and that the honourable member should get her facts straight”.
At the end of the debate, Mazibuko said she was getting her facts checked again, while Van den Berg was relieved to know that the Speaker of the House had ruled that his speech was not irrelevant.
Others hold up
However, members of other opposition parties managed to come away unscathed.
Inkatha Freedom Party MP Keith Zondi welcomed Nyanda's speech, but made a point of asking the minister to ensure his leadership is no longer tainted by other factors.
Zondi was referring to recent media reports that have trailed Nyanda concerning his business interests, his purchase of luxury cars and his staying in expensive hotels, rather than at his official Cape Town residence.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille was gracious in not pointing out very clearly that it was at her prompting that Parliament held public hearings into interconnection rates, after Nyanda and his ANC counterparts took the credit.
De Lille, however, pointed out that independent regulation of the ICT and broadcasting sectors is an essential component in ensuring access to all.
“Government should not be both referee and a player in the sector. It is essential for competition to be introduced by promoting small and new operators, driving down prices,” she said.
Cope MP Juli Killian elicited a surprised reaction from Nyanda when she said government should do more to encourage investment in infrastructure, by mitigating the risks of investors, saying: “...South Korea saw a 30% growth in Internet usage within a single year by doing just that”.
Killian said the Department of Communications should oversee effective competition and drive public-private partnerships through ICASA.
“The minister has a window of opportunity to make a clean start and to give direction, but time is running out. At this stage, this ANC government and Telkom turn access to broadband into a service for the select few who can afford it. It is like having champagne on tap in rooms for the rich,” she said.
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