When General Siphiwe Nyanda, former head of the SANDF, was tipped for the post of communications minister, nobody saw it coming. For this, he earned the nickname General Surprise.
Without much delay, he tackled the vested interests of the entrenched cartel that had been his predecessor's legacy. He proved unexpectedly bold, especially on the question of how interconnection tariffs contributed to high telecommunications prices. His nickname appeared apt.
How sad, then, that all of the good intentions are coming to naught. The cartel has retreated behind the wall of legislation that had been built for them, offering mere tokens of goodwill. Whatever pressure there is on prices comes not from Nyanda's leadership, but from the breach made in the legislative wall by Altech's bold court action to win the right to self-provision for the nation's hundreds of ISPs.
One can, for R450, buy a SIM card with lots of call time and unlimited high-speed data in the United States. While consumers here need to bring identity documents, proof of residence, and a multi-page form completed in detail, even in that security-conscious nation you need hand over nothing more than your name and some cash. You end the contract merely by not paying for the next month.
Having unlimited data at your disposal makes possible entirely new ways of working. No longer do you have to fret about being capped, or being ripped off to the tune of R2 per megabyte (!) thereafter. Not only can you stream TV and radio to your computer, but you can broadcast live video from your phone to the Internet, should you think it worthwhile. Meanwhile, we're still excited about banking using USSD short codes, and premium SMS remains useless as a means of paying for products and services, because the operators charge not for the SMS, but half the value of the transaction. In short, the South African telecoms landscape remains an extortionate cartel.
Worse, however, is that Nyanda's own reputation for probity is collapsing.
The South African telecoms landscape remains an extortionate cartel. Worse, however, is that Nyanda's own reputation for probity is collapsing.
Ivo Vegter, contributor, ITWeb
He is half-owner of a security services company that benefited from no-bid government contracts to the tune of R123 million, the irregularity of which has already cost the jobs of two managers.
After protestations that security services are not under his purview as minister, it now emerges that Nyanda also owns some shares in at least one major telco, MTN. Granted, compared to his lavish spending on official cars, and the hotel bills he ran up because his official residence wasn't quite to his taste, the stake in MTN is fairly small. However, for how much he did wrong is secondary to whether he did wrong in principle.
Analysts quoted by ITWeb made the amusing observation that Nyanda really should own shares in "all three" of the telcos, if he is to avoid conflicts of interest. Besides the fact that there are five tier-one telcos (Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Neotel), and that the minister's share ownership in the three big ones might compromise the interests of the smaller two, that his decisions as a public official can influence his personal prosperity at all is a problem. He should not own a beneficial interest in any firm subject to legislation or regulation under his purview.
Opposition politicians have called his case an "acid test for the independence of the newly-appointed Public Protector and the validity of the president's often declared resolve to stamp out corruption".
We had hoped General Surprise could turn defeat on interconnection rates into victory in the larger war by doing something bold, such as repealing the legislation that underpins "managed liberalisation".
Turning out to be an "acid test" on corruption is not the surprise we'd been hoping for. On all fronts, public and private, General Surprise has become General Disappointment.
Share