Void in DoC
THE death of Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, coupled with the resignation of the director-general, leaves a void in the department that the industry hopes will be filled by a more liberal-thinking duo.
Matsepe-Casaburri, 71, died on Monday from complications during medical tests. She had served as communications minister since 1999 in two terms marked by controversy.
President Kgalema Motlanthe said she was an outstanding leader who served the country with distinction, honour and selflessness. “With her incisive intellect she has made an invaluable contribution to the development of policy in various fields, including information and communication technology,” he said.
However, companies under her jurisdiction, as well as developmental agencies and even the World Economic Forum, took issue with her policies, blaming them for the high cost and low penetration rate of telecoms services, and for SA’s dip in the world rankings of tech-savvy countries.
In February the directorgeneral, Lyndall Shope-Mafole, resigned to concentrate on her role with the Congress of the People and the position is still empty. The industry hopes the government will appoint progressive thinkers to invigorate the sector.
“A lot of issues need to be sorted out and there is definitely room for more driven and telecoms-understanding people in both those roles,” said analyst Irnest Kaplan.
“There was a lot of commentary against Matsepe-Casaburri for good reason because she did things nobody could understand.”
He said appointing someone whom the industry respected would be a positive step. However, Kaplan doubted that even an astute successor could quickly undo the negative effect of Matsepe-Casaburri’s policies, as Telkom, Vodacom and MTN had entrenched their positions while smaller players were prevented from competing equally.
Yesterday other industry players posted their opinions online. “Can’t say the sector will miss her,” said one.
“Her protection of Telkom and (the regulatory authority) has cost this country an unnecessary 10 years of the highest communication costs in the world. At what cost to the overall economy?”
Her questionable actions included licensing just one new player to compete with Telkom, delays in licensing Cell C and Neotel, and a legal fiasco when a court ruled that hundreds of telecoms players could build their own networks, despite her insistence that they could not.
Last December Deputy Communications Minister Roy Padayachie criticised her policies for delaying progress and causing a “devastating deterioration in relations between the private sector and the department”.
Void in the DoC – give your views
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