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The Minister of Communications refers to the the comments made by the
Deputy Minister of Communications Mr Obed Bapela at the Southern Africa
Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) in East
London. The Deputy Minister call for the encryption codes on Blackberry
to be made available to Government.This matter was widely reported on in
the media. The Minister of Communications wishes to issue the following
clarifying statement on this matter.

The Minister of Communications aligns itself with the statement issued
by the Minister of Justice Mr Jeff Radebe,the Coordinator of the
Justice Cluster in Government that Government has no intention to
regulate or legislate against Blackberry Encryption messenger services
(BBM).The Government is still working on a policy statement on Cyber
matters which policy will review current regulatory and Legislative
instruments with respect to cyberspace matters.

The Minister however welcomes the willingness of Research in Motion(RIM)
to work closely with Government to prevent the abuse of the encrypted
messenger services by criminals for unlawful purposes.Government has no
intention to intercede or interfere with the privacy of communications
between private citizens for lawful purposes.