Help start an Active lobby group

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Karmic Sangoma
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Active lobby group

antitrust.co.za recently had a meeting with an MP in parliment (above the national assembly!!!), and it was suggested we start a lobby group.

I think everyone should get together for this, anyone who has a vested interested in seeing a liberal telecoms market in South Africa (so this should be everyone except the Telkom shareholders).

Sites like Hellkom, myadsl and antitrust should combine with the South African internet ass., fxi and other such organisations to form an effective lobby group.
 
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Wizard, please could you put my name down as an active lobbyist. Well Done you guys!!!
 
we need to get get in touch with all interested parties, and get the ball rolling. I have 0 experience in how to setup and run a lobby group, but I am thinking members like peapod and debbie2 could point us in the right direction to get this off the ground.

I think we need to find out what we need to get together to get a lobby group growing, and from there get it going.

How about a name like, "The South African Telecommunications Action Group"? or something like this?

I am sure the active lawyers and advocates who browse these forums will also be able to assist us in setting this up correctly.

This can not be a "one site" group. I believe this has to include ALL interested parties, and so therefore we should notify all those who will want to become a part of this.

Anyone got any ideas or advice?
 
CAUG (I think thats their name) volunteered some bods earlier this year when i tried to get this off the ground privately. I will fish around on MOnday and come up with some names who are committed and hardworking - we CANNOT carry deadwood.
Also, we need to be clear that lobbying costs money. we have to be organised, slick, presentable and presentation worthy. Credibility is everything.
 
ic said:
Forming a lobby group, was suggested some time back - by mbs if I'm not mistaken, and the reasons given made it very clear that it's about the only way to get a say in political committee driven decision making...:)

mbs, if it was your post, please find & post a link to it...

PS: If it was someone else's post, I apologise profusely for my dementia, please post a link anyways ;).
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Methinx it had to do with the parliamentary oversight committee on telecommunications - do a search for 'oversight'+'mbs', and you'll probably find it. I can't remember what I originally said (can't go look for it now - have run to make an appointment at 17h30), but probably along the lines of having to contact your party representative on the committee.

As an independent lobby group, partisan approaches are a no-no, however - rather approach ALL representatives, and give each one an individual lever/point of action to focus on and emphasise in committee sessions. That way, they'll all feel that they have not been upstaged by anybody else, and the lobby group's objectives would be more likely to be met...
 
i think we need to advertise this, and all get together and work this out. i believe theres a lot of us here with unique connections that could be benificial. we need to sit down, and work out a strategy.

As a united front i think we could get the funding.
 
Still not sure about the original posting concerning lobbying - don't think it really matters, anyway, as the principles that should be followed are actually self-evident. Essentially, what needs to be done is for a Position Paper to be drafted, clearly specifying (in one-and-a-half line spaced type, 12-point Times New Roman, outline-numbered paragraph format) what the lobbying group is saying, covering (i) the background (ii) the proposal (iii) the motivation and (iv) the resolution to be moved. Each paragraph to be not more than 20 lines long.

As mentioned previously, I would recommend that indivdual committee members be approached by the lobbying group with unique motivations, given the upstaging and partisanship issues between committee members. If you like, the lobbying group could make a formal presentation to the committee as a whole, but I'm not so sure that there'll be much attention paid to it, unless it falls in line with what is currently being discussed as per the formal agenda. As you all are probably aware, Convergence Bill issues are what is currently occupying the committee's time.

Be all that as it may, the best approach is probably to contact the committee secretary, to find out dates, times, venues and agenda items scheduled for discussion. Details are:

Portfolio Committee on Communications - Control Committee Secretary: Marc Philander Tel: 021 403 3746

I've also gone into the Parliamentary Monitoring group's website (http://www.pmg.org.za/programmes/commem.htm) to find out who's who in the zoo currently, and these are the names listed. I'm not so sure that these names are all valid, however, given the floor-crossing shenanigans and blatant self-interest evidenced by the imbeciles making use of it:

Committee Constituted On 23 June 2004

Chairperson: Mr. Mk Lekgoro (w.e.f. 25 June 2004)

African National Congress
Kholwane, Mr S E
Khumalo, Mr K M *
Lekgoro, Mr M K
Magazi, Ms N M
Matlala, Mr M H *
Maziya, Mr A M
Mohlalonga, Mr M R
Mokoto, Ms N R
Morutoa, Ms M R *
Nkuna, Ms C
Nonkonyana, Chief M *
Pieterse, Mr R
Yengeni, Ms L E *

Democratic Alliance
Haasbroek, Mr SF
Smuts, Ms M

Inkatha Freedom Party
Vos, Ms SC
Ndlovu, Mr V B (Alt)

Independent Democrats
Gore, Mr V C

African Christian Democratic Party
Khumalo, Rev M S

Freedom Front Plus
Mulder, Dr P W A

*Alternates

Hopefully this'll be of some assistance to the lobbying group - all strength to those involved...
 
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telkom

i think we would go straight for the heart of the matter:

We should campaign to breakup Telkom into four to six Telecoms companies.
 
I think this is a great idea .. and I will help however I can :) ... but I am not that familiar with the political scene and know nothing about lobbying ...
I think jamieb has a point .... we can use australia as a case study ... they introduced a SNO and yet the prices did not drop and the telco remained dominant .... so then no broke it up ...
 
What are you going to by lobbying for ? Competition ? Our very own president has publically stated that competition is needed in the Telecoms industry.

On the other hand, it's very easy to say it, and very difficult to impliment change. Laws need to be drawn up, licensing needs to be given, Infrastructures need to be build, international backbone connections created. Then theres marketing and advertising to consider. THIS IS A HUGE DEAL. If a lobby will mean that the IT educated people will have an actual say in Telecoms in ZA then consider myself IN.
 
Find a "champion"

It does not matter how you intend going about lobbying or petitions, by the end of the day you need someone that has the gift of the gap, that is someone that has a presence about him/her that can field any questions, that knows how to convince and or persuade people a person that is comfortable speaking to a large audience etc, because if you cannot find such a person o well.
 
ajak said:
It does not matter how you intend going about lobbying or petitions, by the end of the day you need someone that has the gift of the gap, that is someone that has a presence about him/her that can field any questions, that knows how to convince and or persuade people a person that is comfortable speaking to a large audience etc, because if you cannot find such a person o well.
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Someone should call Sizwe...........
 
So why not just thow our voice and MONEY behind the Antitrust crew and take them and us to the next level?
 
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