Issued by: Ministry of Communications
7 May 2002, National Assembly
Madam Speaker
Deputy President Zuma
Colleagues in the Executive
Members of the Portfolio Committee of Communications
Honourable Members of Parliament
Distinguished Guests
Allow me to start my budget vote by paying tribute to a son of Africa, a warrior, who fell on the 26th of April. I do not doubt that all members of this house will agree with me that a dark cloud fell over South Africa on that Friday night.
Comrade Steve will be remembered by all of us not just for his fierce stance in this house, in supporting what he believed in, but also for his bravery in fighting for the freedom that is enjoyed by all South Africans today, and most of all for his sterling work during the last two and a half years of his life as Minister for Safety and Security. Personally, his encouragement, his confidence in me and belief that one can rise to the challenge while we were in exile in Lusaka will always be appreciated.
Comrade Steve, Uyibekile induku ebandla!
Today marks an end to an era and heralds an exciting future. We are closing one door and opening another. Five years ago, we started a process of transforming the telecommunications sector focusing on access, universal service and modernization of the sector. I am proud to report to you that in this sector we have made significant progress towards ensuring universal access to services by all South Africans and technological advancement.
Madam Speaker,
We live in a world and a country that continues to be marked by gross inequalities. Poverty alleviation, therefore, remains at the top of our agenda.
Information and Communications Technologies have been identified as being central to development both in our country and across the African continent as they present us with an opportunity to leapfrog decades of development. The importance attached to this sector and because of its cross cutting nature, special focus needs to be continually paid to the effort to bridge this digital and knowledge divide.
You will recall that a decision was taken to grant exclusivity to Telkom for a period of five years from the 7th of May 1997 during which time the entity would be required to fulfill specific obligations to roll out telephones in under-serviced areas and villages as well as to priority customers such as schools and hospitals Telkom was also required to modernize and grow the telecommunications business. In this process, Telkom has had to manage staff numbers in a necessary by painful process.
Today, we mark the end of Telkom's period of exclusivity in the Public Switched Telecommunications Services. This day heralds a new beginning, the birth of managed liberalization in the telecommunications sector, which opens up new opportunities. As we stand poised to enter this new phase, I am proud to report to you that Telkom has made considerable progress in meeting the above obligations and more South Africans now have access to a range of new services.
Honourable members, five years ago, it was common place for the majority of South African to cross rivers, catch busses, trains and so on just to be able to make a phone call. These South Africans, who constituted the majority, were in the main, falling outside any meaningful communication infrastructure and services. For them the luxury of having any connectivity within easy reach, something that is taken for granted by most of us, was a pipe dream.
I personally experienced this digital divide between rural and urban South Africa recently. I was attempting to reach my Director General who was attending a family funeral at a village in the Eastern Cape. I was in Pretoria. He had to travel for two hours to the nearest hilltop where he could get a signal, retrieve messages from his cell phone to communicate with the seat of government. At one point he had to travel for two hours to receive an urgent fax. For many, these conditions have changed, but just as many are still awaiting the change.
Madam Speaker, over 2,5 million new lines have been installed since 1997, 1.4 million of which were installed in historically under-serviced areas. Approximately 2 700 villages were connected for the first time. Almost twenty thousand five hundred priority customershave been connected. Where previously it was common for our people to wait years before having a telephone installed in their homes, I am informed that the average time for installation of services has been reduced significantly so that the installation of services within 28 days now stands at 97% for business and 95% for residential customers.
At a capital cost of R50 billion, spent primarily in expanding, upgrading and modernization of the network, Telkom has rehabilitated its network into a fully digital system that is managed from the National Network Operation Centre in Centurion, which I invite you to visit to see for yourself, the state of the art technology that exists in our country.
Yet, honourable members, there are still challenges that we must all confront in order for us to defend these gains and extend them to more South Africans. One of these challenges is to reduce the cost of telephony in order to lower the disconnection rate.
Another challenge that confronts all of us is to fight against cable theft and to protect the infrastructure that has been deployed in our communities and placed at our service. I specifically call upon our people to help us in fighting against criminality and vandalism directed at communications infrastructure.
This morning I had the unique opportunity to speak to Mr Mashego, the principal of Matome Malatji School in Phalaborwa, Limpopo Province, the last place to have a telephone installed during the exclusivity period (MINISTER TO ADD IMPRESSIONS OF PHONE CALL 015 769 6124).
Through the wonders of modern technology, an unlikely celebrity was introduced to South African television audiences last year. Allow me Madam Speaker to introduce to this house to Mr Dlakela.
MOLO MHLOBO WAM!!!
Honourable members,
In May 2001, I delivered the Budget Vote of the Department of Communications under the theme: Unity in Action for Change. We undertook to work together with other departments on a wide range of issues and programmes that were to be implemented during the past financial year.
Today we report back on the progress and achievements that we have made together with our partners and also outline the direction that we intend taking during this financial year and beyond.
Firstly, I am proud to report that policy and legislation targets set by my department in the past financial year were met. The Telecommunications Amendment Act was enacted in November 2001 after extensive consultation with local and international stakeholders. There was vibrant debate in this house as was dramatically illustrated by the honourable member Susan Vos who had prepared two speeches . The Postal Services Amendment Act, which seeks to clarify the mandate of the Postal Regulator became law in November 2001. The Electronic Communications and Transaction Bill, is before Parliament and has been welcomed by industry both locally and internationally.
Madam Speaker, (Telecomms)
The amendments to the Telecommunications Act have paved the way for the introduction of the Second National Operator, (SNO) in which a 30% stake is reserved for Esi-tel and Transtel and a 19% stake is reserved for black and women economic empowerment. I am pleased to report that ICASA received 10 applications for the empowerment stake, three of which were disqualified. The Invitation To Apply for the 51% stake will be issued shortly. The department led a highly successful road show, late last year, to popularise the new licence opportunity in Europe & Asia.
The amendments have also paved the way for the awarding of an international and multimedia licence to Sentech. Draft Sentech licences have already been issued for public comment, and the final licenses will soon be issued by ICASA.
Furthermore, the amendments to the Telecommunications Act provided for the licensing of operators in under-serviced areas, with a teledensity of less than 5%. The majority of these are in the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy nodal points. The Department held provincial workshops to raise awareness amongst the relevant communities, of opportunities for telecommunications licences in these areas. This process will bring about the most significant ownership and involvement in the communication sector by black people and women in our country.
The work done by ICASA is fundamental to the realisation of the new policy and legislative objectives. Icasa has had to draft new regulations, embark on licensing processes and public hearings. All of this work has been done within a context of demanding dead-lines and a high staff turn over, as the result of industry poaching.
Finally, the amendments provide for a new public emergency telephone service and a new emergency number: "112". A pilot has already been established in Klerksdorp in the Northwest Province.
As indicated earlier, the Electronic Transactions and Communications Bill, has been welcomed by local and international stakeholders alike. There are however issues of a technical nature that have been raised which will be attended to. Once the bill has been passed, we will set up the following:
As you are aware, provisions for continued existence of the Universal Service Agency were contained in the Telecommunications Amendment Act. The process to restructure the Agency, including the establishment of the board, is underway.
In the course of last year, the Agency conducted a review of the work of the existing 90 tele-centres that have been established in the country. As a result of this review a process will be initiated during this year to upgrade the capacity of tele-centres and cyberlabs as well as to redirect their activities to include training, and to provide dedicated services, especially to the Youth.
During the past financial year 30 schools in the nodal points were equipped with modern communications tools as part of the extension of services in partnership with provincial ministries. This year, 200 additional schools will receive modern ICT tools as part of the Edunet network to link all public schools.
In addition, the Agency will finalise a universal service map to guide operators during the process of redrafting the universal service obligations later this year.
Honourable Members, (Broadcasting)
During the course of the last financial year, an additional 1.5 million South Africans gained access either to radio services for the first time or to improved radio services in accordance with our promise to advance universal service in broadcasting.
In July 2001, I had the privilege of switching on the Mbuzini transmitter to extend Radio Ligwalagwala to 400 000 new listeners in Schoemansdal, Mpumalanga who until then had never had a FM signal.
In December of 2001, UKhozi radio service reached 695 000 new listeners in Qhudeni, Kwa Zulu Natal. During the same month 435 000 new listeners in Kwaggafontein, Mpumalanga, tuned in to Thobela FM and Ikwekwezi for the first time. The same extension of service by Thobela FM reached 180 000 new listeners in Tolwe, in Limpopo. In the course of this, the SABC and Sentech will be launching a new transmitter service for Ukhozi in Ulundi, KZN.
All of us in the urban areas have grown accustomed to the superior and clear sound of FM services. These 1.5 m South Africans enjoyed this service for the first time.
Our programmes to support the community radio sector also entailed installing seven community radio stations, while 13 stations were upgraded and provided with ICT tools to make their work more efficient. However, licensing has been slow because of staff losses at ICASA.
At the same time, and in order to enhance the contribution of broadcasting services towards improving the daily lives of ordinary South Africans, we worked together with the Community Broadcasting sector to ensure the production of content that is relevant to our people and to specific situations. This task has been completed and we have been fortunate to witness what some call "breed and feed" of volunteers.
More than a thousand programmes were produced at the production hubs and aired in more than fifty (50) community radio stations throughout the country. Spurred on by our constitutional mandate to create a South Africa that respects the fundamental rights of all, these programs have been produced by, with and for women, children, people with disability and the youth. This mandate will find further expression through a programme to ensure that the communications infrastructure is accessible to people with disabilities.
In the course of last year, we also opened a new frontier by hosting the Community Electronic Multi-Media Indaba. Two hundred and fifty (250) participants from rural based community radio stations, multi-purpose community centers and telecentres, together with the Department converged to initiate a process to address the needs of the rural communities in the changing technological environment.
We are proud to report on the participation of Sentech in the roll out of services in the rural areas. Sentech has been pivotal in achieving the roll out targets of the broadcasting services, which we earlier spoke about. In addition, Sentech has been actively collaborating with GCIS since 1999 in the planning and roll out of Multi-Purpose Community Centers (MPCCs) throughout the country.
In the future, Sentech will assume a greater role in emergency service delivery and in disaster relief projects in the rural areas. It will also provide broadband multimedia links to overcome rural connectivity challenges and support the MPCCs as information hubs.
Last year we spoke of a study to look into the feasibility of a dedicated parliamentary channel. Consultations with stakeholders have continued and this year we will establish a regulatory environment to ensure that the affairs and workings of Parliament are adequately covered in our broadcasting system.
Madam Speaker and Honourable Members,
In launching the Moral Regeneration Movement, the Deputy President correctly pointed to the role that broadcasting can play in building a new moral fibre and entrenching democratic values. Other commentators have pointed to missed opportunities to instill new values, a culture of rights and responsibility, and a new South African identity, as a result of excessive airing of foreign programmes.
Our society needs a broadcasting sector that contributes to a social discourse that acknowledges our responsibility to each other, to society and to our country and continent and that prioritizes issues of national interest.
Discussions are underway with the SABC to develop editorial policies for news and programming to cover issues of content, accuracy and impartiality. Such policies will also address standards such as exposure to violence, criminal activity, gratuitous sex and nudity on our screens and airwaves.
During this year we will introduce in Parliament an amendment to the Broadcasting Act aimed at expanding the sector through the licensing of more subscription services; regional services to address issues of language diversity as well as radio services in areas where regional services were not licensed during the previous round of licensing.
This year we will also give effect to the split of the SABC into public and commercial services. There still exists a need for public broadcasting that guarantees universal access to a wide range of quality services to include especially those who are likely to be excluded by costs or access to expensive new technologies and commercial services.
This year the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) will ensure that all broadcasting players will increase their output of South African content in line with the regulations announced last year.
Our parliamentary programme for this year will include the introduction to Cabinet and Parliament of the Convergence Bill. This will deal with the convergence of broadcasting, telecommunications, information technologies and new media and will present the regulator with new challenges. There will also be a need to further clarify the role of the policy maker and the regulator.
We will in the course of this year also receive recommendations from two important advisory bodies on how to develop policy frameworks for Digital Broadcasting and the display of South African content in our local and foreign markets. Once decisions have been taken, we shall consult with the regulator.
The process to corporatise and reposition BOP Broadcasting and Chanel Africa is well under way, though the process was slow. By June this year, a report will be presented to Cabinet on the options for the repositioning of these two services.
POSTAL
Madame Speaker, for the past financial year, the department focused on the transformation of the South African Post Office; further roll out of Public Internet Terminals; increasing postal outlets in historically disadvantaged areas; restructuring of the Post Bank as well as enterprise reform.
As you already know, we terminated our Strategic Management Contract with New Zealand Post International. We express our disappointment at the inability and failure of the partner to meet their contractual undertaking and our expectations. The investigation into this failure is complete and the outcome will be presented to Cabinet soon.
Enterprise reform, however, continues in the Post Office. All systems and contracts entered into by SAPO and all its subsidiaries are being reviewed to root out administrative inefficiencies and corruption. Already several people have been suspended, dismissed and or charged.
Afrikaans
In die afgelope finansiële boekjaar is 100 Publieke Internet Terminale (PIT) in Poskantore landwyd bekendgestel. Daar word beoog om ? verdere 200 van hierdie terminale in die huidige finansiële boekjaar uit te rol. Die ophopende effek van al hierdie inisiatiewe is dat die Poskantoor nie meer inligtings-tegnologie as ? bedreiging sien nie, maar eerder as ? geleentheid om die maatskappy strategies binne gemeenskappe te plaas as ? bron van inligting. Deur hierdie terminale (PIT) het klein sakemense, besighede en boere wat andersins nooit toegang tot ? persoonlike rekenaar sou hê nie, ook die geleentheid om as e-pos gebruikers te registreer en om ook e-pos adresse te hê.
Di Citizen's Post Office tse supileng di ile tsa hlomuwa; tse nne tsa tsona di ile tsa fuwa batho semmuso selemo se fetileng. Sena se fana ka menyetla ho batho ba rona hore ba be le technology mo ba dulang. Ke ile ka iponela sena ka mahlo, ha re ne re fana ka Citizen's Post Office kwana Nongoma ka di 26 tsa February lemong sena. Bana ba sehlopha sa leshome ba sekolo se phahameng sa Bhekuzulu ba ile ba bolela hore ha ba so ka ba tshwara computer bophelong ba bona. Thaba Nchu teng, moithuti ya balang ka poso le univesiti ya Vista o ile a kgona ho romella professor ya hae assignment ka e-mail kgetlo la pele.
Lama posi ase zindaweni zasemakhaya, kuyajabulisa-ke ukuthi abaholi bendabuko bawasukumele phezulu. Kwa Nongoma, KwaZulu Natal, isilo samabandla, kanye neKgoshi Moroka eThaba Nchu, babhalisela ama email address kulezindawo.
During this financial year we will complete another major initiative that will further empower our people across the economic divide through the restructuring of the Post Bank. The process of drafting the Post bank Bill is well under way.
This piece of legislation will address the needs of the millions of unbanked and "unbankable" South Africans. The new legislative framework will allow the Post Bank to structure creative products aimed at releasing the economic potential of the rural and poor communities, particularly women and the youth.
For the current financial year, the Minister of Finance announced in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement, that the Post Office will receive a R300 million a year subsidy. This contribution will go to clearly identified projects with a specific aim to meet universal service needs of our people. These include extension of electronic transactions systems to all the rural Post Offices as well as ensuring a basic, quality standard of services in all Post Offices across the country. In the meantime a firewall has been built between the finances of the Post Office and the Post Bank.
Madam Speaker, a crucial aspect in improving Postal Services in the country is to ensure that there is an effective regulator in the sector. Thus, the Postal Services Act has been amended to strengthen the role of the Regulator.
A process to establish a reliable physical address system, which is both a social and economic tool, is underway. A physical address enables individuals to open bank accounts and conduct other economic activities, which can then be captured by Statistics South Africa.
Honourable Members, (HUMAN RESOURCES)
Building capacity that will utilize the new technologies to deliver relevant service to all South Africans in their context and languages remains one of our greatest challenges.
The National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA), will continue to train South African youth in the area of Multimedia, Television and Radio Production. Last year, thirty students graduated from NEMISA in the areas of television and radio production. NEMISA successfully introduced the multimedia course in partnership with the Multi-Media University of Malaysia. During the course of this year, seventy more students, the majority of whom are women, will graduate as practitioners in the fields of Multimedia, TV & Radio production.
More importantly, the focus in training this year will be on delivering web based Internet language services for the eleven South African official languages. Working together with the Department of Education, NEMISA will also embark on the training of teachers and school administrators in the use of ICT tools for education. This partnership, which includes Sentech, will also see the implementation of Edu-Net and the E-learning Center, an education network and service that will link all public schools.
The Institute for Satellite and Software Applications (ISSA), is another intervention in bringing about human capital that will position South Africa as a player in the science and space Technology area. Minister Ben Ngubane has been telling us that "our country needs scientists". His passionate plea has been heard.
Our programme last year produced 25 Masters graduates, 14 of whom were studying in Engineering Sciences through Stellenbosch University and 11 of whom graduated with a Masters degree in Software Engineering through Carnegie Mellon University, in the US.
During the last financial year, the Software Evaluation Centre, operated by the ISSA Software Engineering graduates, was established. The process to establish a Computer Virus Monitoring center has also been completed.
During this financial year we will be collaborating, once again, with local universities for the running of a Masters degree in IT-Software Engineering Programming with the Carnegie Mellon University. We will also investigate the commencement of a Multi-Media software degree programme with the Multi-Media University of Malaysia.
Students of ISSA will commence a research programme at MiraLab at the University of Geneva, in virtual reality research which will enable the development of different scientific tools for diagnostic and educational purposes. ISSA will also commence the Schools Mentorship programme.
Telkom has also made a major contribution in this regard and has laid great emphasis on the development, education and training of historically disadvantaged persons through the Center for Learning that has been assigned a five year budget of R2.3 billion. To date a total of 10 691 people have been sponsored through study schemes, bursaries and scholarship for both Telkom employees as well as the general public.
As Honourable Member Rajbali once said in this house- Siyaya!!
In his State of the Nation Address on the 12th of February, President Mbeki announced that an ICT university would be established to help fast track skills development in this sector. I am pleased to report that the concept document on the establishment of the ICT University is being finalized for presentation to Cabinet in collaboration with the Departments of Education; Arts, Culture, Science and Technology; Labour as well as the Department of Trade and Industry.
We are also developing an ICT strategy for South Africa in collaboration with other departments to ensure maximum co-ordination of the various activities in meeting national and sector objectives.
In line with this the President last year initiated the Presidential International Advisory Council on Information Society and Development composed of high profile international experts, CEOs and Chairpersons of international ICT companies. The Council commenced its work in October last year at a meeting held in George. The recommendations arising out of this Council meeting are being considered for implementation by various departments.
In the same context, and to mobilize national know how and build common approaches, the President also established the Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development. This body has the responsibility to recommend strategies to bridge the digital divide and help develop an ICT policy framework.
The Communications Sector Summit, which we mentioned last year, will be held during the second half of this year. Considerable progress is being made regarding the development of the agenda and the identification of issues and expected outcomes.
INTERNATIONAL
During the current financial year our international work will entail supporting NEPAD projects and working with other countries to advocate for an equitable global communication system and the creation of a better and just world.
Accordingly we will focus on supporting the e-Africa Commission and the implementation of the following NEPAD projects: the VIJANA Dot Force Youth Project; e-schools; e-health, and Infrastructure development projects.
In the SADC region we will focus on the continue to support the SADC Task Force on e-readiness, which will deal with the development of e-strategies and programmes in the region.
Through the Ministerial Oversight Committee, chaired by South Africa, we will continue to develop strategic relationships and programmes with the G8's Digital Opportunity Task Force (Dot force), the Commonwealth Expert Group on Information Technology and the United Nations ICT Task Force.
Madam Speaker,
I would like to pay tribute to the role played by South African communications operators in furtherance of the ideals of NEPAD. Telkom, as one of these operators, is playing a sterling role through the deployment of the undersea cable in partnership with 35 nations and several influential telecommunication players. This cable will link Africa with Asia and Europe and put an end to the practice of Africans speaking to each other via Europe. The launch of this cable takes place on the 27th of this month.
At the same time Vodacom, MTN and Sentech have extended their operations into the rest of the continent and we look forward to this extended connectivity making a meaningful contribution towards NEPAD and so making the African Renaissance a reality.
Honourable members, I have outlined to you in detail the work that has been done by my department in the past financial year and the direction we are taking during this financial year. I therefore invite you to help us in this endeavour by voting to approve the budget of R823 451 000,00 for this financial year.
Finally, I would like to conclude by thanking the dynamic management team and entire staff, of the Ministry and Department of Communications, the majority of whom are youth, under the capable leadership of the Director General, Mr Andile Ngcaba, who was recently honoured with an honorary doctorate by the University of Fort Hare in recognition of his work. I would like to thank my advisors also for their tireless efforts and dedication to the task and commitment to their country and people.
We also thank the industry practitioners whose skills, wisdom and technical know how are helping to position South Africa as a global player.
Mark Shuttleworth, the first African in space, thank you for taking us with you on your expedition. You have opened up the world of space technology to many South Africans, especially our youth. You have done us proud! You were worth the Shuttle!
To the Chairperson of the Communications Portfolio Committee and all members of the Committee, whose unwavering support we enjoyed as they challenged us continuously to do better. Re a leboha.
And to my extended family, which has suddenly been growing in the last year, thank you for the support and the smiles of the little ones that remind me that their future also lies in my hands.
Tsela e telele empa re tla fihla.
Ke a leboga.
I thank you.