Ramaphosa’s fibre broadband plans

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that South African fibre broadband rollouts will benefit from simplified regulations for public-private partnerships.

The president made the remarks during his opening of Parliament address on Thursday, 18 July 2024.

“In the next five years, working together, drawing on our collective capabilities, we will forge a new inclusive growth path for South Africa by pursuing a massive investment in infrastructure,” Ramaphosa said.

“We will massively increase the scale of investment in infrastructure through a more holistic and integrated approach, positioning Infrastructure South Africa as the central institution of coordination and planning.”

Infrastructure South Africa is a governmental centre of excellence established as a single entry point for infrastructure planning, management, and delivery.

“We are simplifying the regulations on public-private partnerships to enable greater investment in both social and economic infrastructure development,” Ramaphosa stated.

“This process had stalled for a number of years, and we are now earnest and focused on simplifying this way of engendering good infrastructure investment,” he continued.

“From our largest metros to our deepest rural areas, we have a clear intention to turn our country into a construction site.”

Ramaphosa said everyone wants to see yellow equipment building roads, dams, bridges, houses, schools, hospitals, and clinics throughout South Africa.

He received a big cheer when he went on to mention laying fibre broadband infrastructure.

“We also have a unique opportunity to position our country as a major player in the digital economy and create jobs in digital services,” the president said.

“We will invest in digital identity and payments, expand access to affordable broadband, and increase training for young people in digital skills.”

Ramaphosa said that as South Africa pursues these new growth areas, the government will continue with its far-reaching reforms that enable growth.

The president also addressed the issue of infrastructure maintenance in his speech.

“The culture of maintaining our infrastructure has declined over a number of years,” he said.

“We build infrastructure facilities and leave the maintenance thereof to a time when they have started to debilitate and collapse.”

Ramaphosa said that part of the process must be engendering a culture of maintenance right from the day new infrastructure is put in place.

South Africa’s telecommunications sector has historically not received much support from the government, with the state generally acting more as a hindrance than a help.

Aside from rent-seeking behaviour and previous administrations’ attempts to monopolise the sector, network operators face many operational challenges.

These include difficulty obtaining wayleaves from various local authorities for permission to build fibre on municipal land and road reserves, as well as construction mafias.

In his 2022 State of the Nation address, Ramaphosa promised that government would facilitate broadband rollout by establishing a standard model for municipal approvals.

That September, the former Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, published draft by-laws for deploying electronic communications facilities.

These by-laws were finalised in February 2023 and are available for municipalities to adopt.

Construction mafias are also facing a crackdown from national and local authorities, with some breakthrough arrests earlier this month.

These criminal gangs, often euphemistically referred to as local business forums, use intimidation tactics to demand a percentage of pay or a protection fee from contractors working in their areas.

New public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson had some stern words for construction mafias during his recent Budget Vote speech.

“I want to be very clear: anyone who seeks to hold back infrastructure projects will be treated as an enemy of the State, and they will be dealt with appropriately,” said Macpherson.

“There is no room for negotiations or delays to our projects.”