Two weeks ago, the Democratic Alliance's Natasha Michael called for the removal of Siphiwe Nyanda as communications minister. She follows a proud tradition, established by Dene Smuts, her predecessor on the Department of Communications watch, of calling for the resignation or removal of the cabinet minister responsible for a policy of "managed liberalisation", to which South Africa owes its sclerotic telecommunications sector. It has long lagged the rest of the world - and even some poorer African states - on telecoms prices, teledensity and connectivity.
She surely couldn't have expected to be heard. But this week, Radakrishna Padayachie was appointed in the place of the embattled minister.
I'm as dazed and confused as she must be. Poison Ivy [Matsepe-Casaburri] survived almost two terms in office, despite her manifest failures. General Surprise, as I dubbed Nyanda, the former head of the Defence Force, became General Disappointment, as an initial burst of energy rapidly degenerated into a sordid tale of a lavish lifestyle, a dysfunctional department, and a patina of corruption that just won't wear off.
I've flown a flag for Padayachie since a speech he delivered in 2005, in which he promised to listen to the industry on ways to help lower telecoms prices. He turned out to be brutally honest about the department's failures at a conference in 2008, when a report commissioned by the department itself compared South Africa to five peer countries. It found exactly what others had reported before: our mobile market is uncompetitive, our voice usage rate and 3G penetration is low, our access to the Internet is dreadful, and our telecommunications prices are exceptionally high.
Last year, in a review of the possible candidates for the job in Zuma's then-new cabinet, I concluded that besides Smuts herself, the best candidate would be Padayachie. He "has excellent political credentials within the ANC, and has proven to be an independent-minded and clear-thinking official, who is sympathetic to the needs both of ordinary people and the industry that should be free to serve them," I wrote.
I've flown a flag for Padayachie since a speech he delivered in 2005.
Ivo Vegter, ITWeb contributor
Now that he has finally been given the responsibility, my hope is that he will give some thought to two policy proposals I've long wanted to see. First, licences should not be limited in number, and should be a mere formality, as easy to obtain as, say, liquor licences. Second, spectrum should be made tradable, instead of being allocated by a bureaucratic regulator. But there are many other challenges he will have to face, including a department that, if the news reports are true, appears to need rebuilding from the ground up. The independence and capacity of the regulator, ICASA, also remains on the agenda.
When the news broke, I was dazed and confused. How did it happen that, for once, my wishes for the DOC came true? Yet for all the fun I've had over the years laying into communications ministers who simply do not understand economics, and ruined a critical infrastructure sector with their idealistic but misguided micromanagement, I'm thrilled at this appointment.
I'd call him Led Zep, but that would saddle Padayachie with a metaphor for crashing and burning. So I'll stick with the name I proposed in December 2008: Jewelweed, our very own Indian Balsam.
Mr Padayachie, congratulations. Don't let us down.
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