Just shy of three weeks since president Jacob Zuma dropped the bombshell that SA's ICT ministry would be split in two - a move that has drawn widespread criticism - it appears government may not have thought the move through.
According to Siya Qoza, spokesperson for the newly-established Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS), the government has yet to clarify the roles of entities affected by Zuma's Cabinet reshuffle. "We'll communicate additional details at an appropriate moment."
In the meantime, the industry is in the dark, critical projects are on ice and - should government backtrack on any of its post-election decisions - existing delays will only be exacerbated.
Sitting waiting
Marian Shinn, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of telecommunications and postal services, says she "has no idea what's going on", but presumes the final juggling of entities and programmes will be ready in time for the Department of Communications (DOC) and DTPS briefings.
"At this stage, I don't even know when our committees will meet - definitely not this week, because Parliament only finalised this week's programme last Thursday.
She says role players have been informed that next week will be devoted to departments and entities briefing the committees on the strategic plans and how the budget will or may be reallocated to support these, followed by three weeks of budget debates on each department. "So it's all going to be processed in a rush. At this stage, no committee's programme has been circulated, so we sit waiting for someone to turn on the fire hose."
Ovum analyst Richard Hurst says entities affected by the change will just have to carry on in a "business as usual manner" until such time that they gain any clarity. In terms of the process that lies ahead, Hurst says he would think government would want to speed up the process and give clarity as soon as possible, to avoid disruption. "However, we know that government, by its very nature, tends to become bogged down in bureaucracy when it comes to issues such as the splitting of departments and responsibilities."
For the industry as a whole, he says, the lack of clarity and the upheaval means entities will continue to operate in a market of uncertainty - a reality that will "severely affect their strategic and tactical planning".
Neglected homework
Africa Analysis analyst Dobek Pater says the fact that government is still in the process of finalising the reconfiguration of departments indicates that "perhaps not enough thought was given" when the initial split between the two new departments was decided on.
"It is still puzzling why we need to have two departments dealing with aspects of an increasingly single industry - ICT and media - when we should actually be looking at scaling down the number of departments in a very bloated government."
Independent telecoms researcher Samantha Perry says government did not do its research before splitting the former DOC in two and is now seemingly back-peddling.
"On one hand, this is unfortunate as the chain of command has been disrupted and there are critical delays that we cannot afford - like the delay in digital migration - but it can also be seen as a positive in that government has listened to what industry has had to say and is fixing it. Better now than later [when an about-face would be more disruptive]."
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx and a member of the National Broadband Advisory Council set up by former communications minister Yunus Carrim, says the council will meet next Tuesday. "Hopefully we will hear more [on the reconfigured ICT departments] then."
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