In a statement issued by Dene Smuts, the DA spokesperson for Communications, the DA said that the Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri’s “clarification” in Mauritius on undersea cables confirms the Department of Communication’s determination to get a slice of the pie and to control telecoms.<\/p>\n
“Her insistence that all cables landing here must be majority SA-owned is a mathematical impossibility if each African country makes similar demands. It is also contrary to SA’s interests to prevent the landing of the capacity we need,” said Smuts.<\/p>\n
The DA believes commentators who think the ownership stipulations will simply require partnerships with local telcos or financiers are missing a major point. The Minister said in Mauritius that any cables landing here would have to become part of the Nepad Network. <\/p>\n
“That Network will operate under a protocol which gives each signed-up African government a controlling golden share. She has already told her Director-General who is the driving force behind the protocol – to take SA’s landing guidelines to the interim Intra-Governmental Assembly. This body calls the shots on the protocol, which was adopted by the SA parliament against DA objections.”<\/p>\n
Smuts said that it is becoming increasingly farcical that Director-General Shope-Mafole claims to be carrying the principles of our Electronic Communications Act into Africa.<\/p>\n
“The ECA effectively brings government control of telecoms to an end and introduces competition. The Nepad approach has already blocked the Eassy cable.”<\/p>\n
“Our information is that Seacom will, in fact, have a hefty SA shareholding – the name of Cyril Ramaphosa, among others, is mentioned – but also that the investment sector is fairly fed up with the ongoing and increasing confusion,” said Smuts.<\/p>\n
“No one can make head or tail of the Minister’s thinking or her Director-General’s initiatives. The only thing that is clear is that both SA telecoms Ministries – Public Enterprises and Communications – are reinstating state telecoms against the tide of liberalisation and modern economic trends.”<\/p>\n