Eric Kholwane has been appointed chairperson of the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Communications, as part of the African National Congress' (ANC) reshuffle of its politicians in the legislature.
His appointment comes as no surprise to the committee, as he has been acting chairperson since Ismail Vadi was transferred by the ANC to become Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport.
Kholwane (35) is one of the younger Members of Parliament, but has been sitting on the communications committee since 2005. In 2009, he was made the ANC's committee whip, a position that meant he ensured his party's members stuck to its policies.
Apart from being an ANC member, Kholwane is also a member of the ANC Youth League and is SA Communist Party Mpumalanga provincial chairperson. He is currently studying towards a Masters in ICT, through the Business School of the University of the Witwatersrand.
Under Vadi's leadership, the communications committee, which has oversight of the Department of Communications (DOC) and other state institutions, such as telecommunications and broadcasting regulator ICASA, began to act in a bipartisan manner with party political differences largely put aside.
“I will definitely continue that course,” Kholwane says. “When I first arrived on the committee there were big differences between the parties. However, the committee now works to get a consensus from all the parties, rather than just depending on numbers.”
The state of the DOC is of major concern to the communications committee, which issued a statement last month describing the department as being “virtually dysfunctional”. It is also concerned about the ongoing SABC board saga, while national signal distributor Sentech has been given some breathing space due to the turnaround in its financial position.
“ICASA appears to be coming right, but its slow turnaround time in dealing with issues is concerning,” Kholwane says.
Former chairperson Vadi says Kholwane's appointment “...is well deserved and I am confident he will lead the committee in a bipartisan manner”.
Natasha Michael, Democratic Alliance shadow communications minister, says: “He is a young, intelligent, but experienced man and I am confident we will continue to work well together on the committee.”
Cope communications spokesperson Juli Kilian says Kholwane won't back down from pursuing any of the critical issues facing the committee.
“Face it, the DOC is a shambles and there is a mess within almost all of its parastatals. The good thing is that being a young man with some experience, he can hit the tar running,” she says.
Meanwhile, the ICASA hearings to pick a new ICASA councillor have been postponed until early next year, due to time constraints, Kholwane says.
“The committee was due to conduct the hearing next week, but because the SABC asked for a postponement of its appearance until that date [23 November] and Parliament was due to rise at the end of the week, time had just run out,” he says.
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