Padayachie lashes Sentech

By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent

Johannesburg, 31 Mar 2006

Deputy communications minister Roy Padayachie today lashed out at Sentech for creating "alarmist views" by saying its infrastructure is collapsing and government is not supporting it.

Padayachie spoke to ITWeb following the Department of Communications` presentation of its budget and strategic plan for 2006/07 before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications.

He was referring to Sentech`s appearance before the same committee on 13 March, when it indicated the 30-year-old national broadcasting signal distribution network needed urgent replacement at the cost of about R900 million.

The State-owned enterprise also indicated it had no idea what deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka meant when she announced before that date that government was planning a roll-out of a national broadband wireless network.

Members of Parliament questioned communications director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole on the apparent confusion surrounding the issue.

"Sentech`s comments that day [13 March] were alarmist in the extreme. They were also a figment of someone`s imagination. There is no way government would allow that infrastructure to fall apart," Padayachie said.

He said he would meet with Sentech management during the course of the next two weeks to solve the issue and this would include getting it to meet with the National Treasury in order to secure the necessary funding.

"There is no way a State-owned enterprise can take a position against government," he said.

Padayachie also hinted the Department of Communications would take a closer look at Sentech`s operations and structure, including that of management, its skills needs and its competency.

Constructive talks

Johan Raath, executive in the office of Sentech`s COO Gladwyn Marumo, when asked for his reaction to Padayachie`s comments, said: "Since that presentation to Parliament, we have had some constructive discussions with the Department of Communications."

Raath, along with Marumo, Sentech`s non-executive chairman Colin Hickling and Sentech CEO Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane, was present during the 13 March presentation.

"We have already begun preparations for the move to digital broadcasting and earlier this year we upgraded one of the first transmitters that is located in Nelspruit," Raath said.

He said that while no time frame had been agreed upon for the roll-out of the broadband wireless network, it should make an appearance before the end of the year.

No core business

Raath`s comment dovetails with those of Shope-Mafole. She said today before the portfolio committee that the appearance of the national broadband strategy would be "more visible towards the end of the year".

Shope-Mafole, in reply to MPs` questions, said Sentech`s broadband wireless roll-out had two aspects: the delivery and access to government services to the entire population, and the provision of commercial services.

"In the ICT sector, there is no longer such a thing as a 'core-business`," she said.

Harry Matabane, communications finance deputy director-general, said, also in reply to questions, that while the present Sentech allocation of about R218 million over three years for the upgrading of the broadcasting network seemed low compared to what Sentech asked for, it could be increased.

"The budget process allows for increased allocations," he said.