Parliament selects ICASA eight

By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent

Cape Town, 08 Sept 2006

Parliament`s communications committee has selected the eight candidates whom it wants to be councillors at the country`s ICT regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA).

While four were elected unanimously, opposition parties have indicated their unhappiness with the remainder.

After a short debate yesterday afternoon, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications voted on the eight candidates that the National Assembly will send to minister of communications, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, to make her selection to fill the five vacant ICASA councillor positions. She will send her selection back to Parliament for its final approval.

Twelve member of the committee sat, with six African National Congress (ANC) members of Parliament, two from the Democratic Alliance (DA), and one each from the Inkhata Freedom Party (IFP), the Independent Democrats (ID), and the Freedom Front Plus (FF+). The chair is from the ANC, but did not need to cast a vote.

The four unanimously elected nominees are: Robert Nkuna, a former Department of Communications spokesperson; Kedibane Annah Serero-Chiloane, head of the projects services division at the Universal Services Agency; Andrew Barendse, an assistant professor of regulatory affairs in Holland; and Kobus van Rooyen, chairman of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA.

Marcia Socikwa, a regulatory affairs academic at Unisa, received eight votes, with two DA and one FF+ votes opposing her nomination.

The weight of the ANC majority carried the remainder of the nominees onto the list, with all the opposition parties voting against them. They are: Mamodupi Mohlala, who is seeking a second term as an ICASA councillor; Brenda Ntombela, Department of Communications chief director; and Mashila Matlala, a Department of Communications senior manager for telecommunications policy.

Committee chairman Godfrey Oliphant said the list would probably be put forward to the National Assembly on Tuesday for the Speaker of the House to present it to the communications minister.

ANC committee members expressed their satisfaction with the nominees and the process that was followed.

Kgotso Khumal (ANC) said: "We are happy with the process. Initially we were not in favour of the current way of compiling the list and presenting it to the minister, who has to return it to Parliament. However, we now think the process works."

Randy Pieterse, also of the ANC, said: "There are a lot of good people who were nominated. However, with the workload that ICASA now faces, we selected candidates who can work as part of a team."

Dene Smuts (DA) indicated her party was strongly opposed to some of the candidates, especially those who are currently in the Department of Communications` employ. "We will be asking for time for a [National Assembly] debate on this issue on Tuesday [12 September]," she said.