ICASA is no government puppet
The Chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), Stephen Mncube, said in an interview with John Fraser on Classic FM that the authority isn’t a Ministry puppet.
“I just want to say unequivocally, at the age of 70, I’ve lived a very good life and I cannot afford to be a puppet of anybody…when I’m living in borrowed times [sic].”
Mncube said that as a regulator, ICASA doesn’t care who’s in the Ministry. While it’s the Ministry’s job to make policies, ICASA will be vocal about policies it doesn’t agree with.
Pressed for his opinion on South Africa’s new Minister of Communications, Roy Padayachie, Mncube said: “Ministers are always good, but to err is human.”
Mncube reminded the interviewer that we are living in the developing world and proceeded to provide advice that seemed to be directed at Padayachie.
“When you are living in a [developing] world you cannot have ideal or Utopian dreams,” Mncube said. “Sometimes you experiment and when that does not work you must swallow your pride and revert to other strategies.”
When questioned about South Africa’s migration from analogue to digital broadcasting, Mncube wasn’t specific about which standard SA would adopt, presumably because the Department of Communications has yet to make a final pronouncement on the matter.
“Any migration from analogue to digital is bound to be good,” is all Mncube said.
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