ICASA appoints new councillors

Johannesburg, 05 Jul 2004

Three new councillors have been nominated to the board of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA).

The councillors were announced at a dinner celebrating ICASA`s fourth anniversary last week and will replace three outgoing councillors.

The new members of the ICASA board are Paris Mashile, Zolisa Masiza and Dr Tracy Cohen, who will take over from Julia Hope, Mbulelo Ncetezo and Gerhard Petrick.

"When you are a regulator in a democracy it means that there is no such thing as councillor- or chairman-for-life, and it is important that while there is continuity there is also change," said ICASA chairman, Mandla Langa.

"We bid farewell to councillors Hope, Ncetezo and Petrick, and wish them good luck with their careers post-ICASA, while also welcoming on board our three new councillors, who assume office tomorrow after being appointed for four-year terms by President Thabo Mbeki."

The regulator also announced that its new CEO, Jacqueline Boitumelo Manche - who joined ICASA from the Department of Provincial and Local Government, where she served as deputy director-general - would take office as of the beginning of July.

Paris Mashile has qualifications from the universities of Washington, Lancaster, Leeds and Pretoria, and joins the regulator from the Rustenburg Local Municipality, where he was director of infrastructure development and management.

Advocate Zolisa Masiza joins ICASA from Siemens Telecommunications, where he was regulatory advisor, and has studied at the universities of Durban-Westville, Witwatersrand, Cape Town, RAU and UNISA.

Dr Tracy Cohen is an advocate of the High Court of SA and was a graduate fellow at the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy, University of Toronto, prior to joining ICASA. She has several qualifications from the universities of the Witwatersrand and Toronto.

Langa also announced that over the last year, the regulator has finalised regulations on PSTN-to-PSTN interconnection; reviewed carrier pre-selection regulations; developed guidelines for the trial and launch of new services; developed guidelines for the legality of wireless local area networks (WLANs); and commenced with the development of number portability regulations.

He said that in the past year, ICASA also developed a comprehensive framework for the licensing and regulation of VANS and PTNs; developed a numbering plan that will encourage competition within the sector; and is in the process of dealing with access to 1 800MHz and third-generation frequency spectrum bands by the mobile operators.