MPs take Icasa bill back to drawing board

and still nobody is able to advance a cogent reason as to why the whole charade was entered into in the first place.....
 
At least the President demonstrated his respect for independent institutes.
 
Angelo said:
At least the President demonstrated his respect for independent institutes.
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fair enough - he would have been strongly advised by the state law advisors that the bill was unconstitutional...net effect of signing it woud have been that it would have been challenged in the consititutional court which probably would have found certain sections unconstitutional and sent it back to parliament to be redrafted....this was obvious to most folks outside of the DoC a long long time ago
 
While this is positive it is nevertheless a joke. Round and round the meeting table we go - while we continue to get stuck with the bill.

The bill set up new rules for the appointment, performance monitoring and dismissal of councillors from the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa). According to the president, the bill prevented Icasa from being independent, because it gave too much power to the communications minister to hire and fire its members.

The bill had this fault when it was first presented and a carefully crafted compromise was agreed upon between the opposition and government parties.

But after it was passed by the national assembly, the department objected and had the NCOP rewrite the whole bill back the way it was originally.

Three clauses caught the president's eye and had to be changed. Essentially, they allowed the minister to appoint a selection panel to recommend the appointment of councillors. The minister was then allowed to draw up a performance management system to set appropriate indicators and performance targets. The evaluation of the Icasa chairman would be done by a panel appointed by the minister. And finally, the minister would have the power to fire the members of the panel he or she originally appointed.
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Good for the president. ICASA needs to stay "Independent" and not be intimidated by ministerial departments, especially MoC. She's already dropped the ball with making broadband internet affordable and available to all SAs, and doesn't need more power.

ICASA needs more power (only b/c of the of restrictive legislation that kills competition in this country) at this stage not less.
 
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