PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

SELECT COMMITTEE ON LABOUR AND PUBLIC ENTERPRISES

Ms ND Ntwanambi: Acting Chairperson 403 2856

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

Wednesday, 10 June 2004 (14:10)

Committee members present:

WESTERNCAPE Ms ND Ntwanambi [ANC]

EASTERN CAPE

None

FREE STATE

Mr CJ van Rooyen [ANC]

GAUTENG

None

KWAZULU-NATAL

Mr DD Gamede [A NC)

LIMPOPO

Ms N Ndalane [ANC]

MPUMALANGA

Ms MP Themba [A NC]

NORTH WEST

Mr Z S Kolweni [ANC]

Ms JF Terblanche [DA]

NORTHERN CAPE

Mr K Sinclair [New NP)

Officials present:

1. Mr Padayachee, Deputy Minister: department of Communications (DoC)

2. Mr Joe Jwara, Deputy Director-General: DoC

3. Mr Omega Shelembe, Director: Shareholder Management Unit, DoC

1

Staff present:

1. Ms Phumza Mpoyiya Committee Secretary: Committee Section

2. Ms Chantal Paulse, Committee Assistant: Committee Section

Apologies: Ms S Chen (Gauteng)

Mr D G Mkono (Eastern Cape)

Agenda:

1. Presentation by DoC on Strategic plan and budget vote

Opening:

The Acting Chairperson welcomed Members and the Deputy Minister to the meeting. She expressed appreciation at the effort made by the Deputy Minister to be present at the meeting.

Opening Statement by Deputy Minister

The Deputy Minister stated that the NCCP featured fairly prominently in the plans of the DoC. He mentioned that the DoC in executing its objectives does not have provincial representations for delivery; and that the structure of the DoC had a good relationship with the provinces. The strategic plans of the DoC are aimed at bringing the department closer to the people.

The presentation was structured in three parts:

1. The Deputy Minister, gave a briefing on strategic plan of the DoC as derived from:

  1. Electoral mandate;
  2. Cabinet Lekgotla;
  3. Legislative mandates i.e. relevant acts;
  4. State -of-the- Nations Address;
  5. Minister's strategic overview and
  6. DoC strategic planning session, which was held from 24-27 May and 1 June 2004.

Political overview of the DoC since new Government

The DoC recently held a strategic workshop, where the top leadership met with the Ministry. The purpose of the workshop was to set up integrated plans for various sources of events from which the DoC had developed its focus. The Deputy Minister was optimistic that by working together the services will be transferred with great diligence.

Role of DoC

· The DoC has a strategic role to play in encouraging amongst others nation building, through the SABC

· To develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policies and legislation that stimulate and enhance the sustainable economic development of the South African 1st and 2nd economies and positively impact on the social well being of all our people;

· To evaluate economic, social and political implementation impact, outcomes and processes of the said policies;

· To exercise oversight over the SOEs and

· To fulfil SA's continental and international responsibilities in the ICT Sector.

2. The Deputy Director-General led the presentation on the following areas:

  1. Vision of the Department

He identified two statements, which cover the new vision of the DoC as follows:

· To be a global leader in harnessing information and communications technologies for socio- economic development.

· To enhance the well being of peoples of South Africa, the African Continent and the world through the creation of a sustainable and enabling information communications technology environment. We (DoC) shall through leveraging our world-class knowledge, skills and experience deliver our social contracts to the people in a professional manner, reflective of our national value system informed by the Batho Pele ethos.

(b) Mandate of DoC and key deliverables, these are reflected in the copy of the presentation which was distributed to all Committee Members at the meeting. (A copy was available from the Committee Secretary)

3. Mr Omega Shelembe, led the presentation on shareholder management unit:

The objective of the unit was to enhance the Minister's oversight and ensure that the Unit gave effect to key areas through the following objectives:

(i) To facilitate the restructuring of SOEs;

(ii) To facilitate the appointment of Boards of Directors of SOEs;

(iii) To oversee delivery of government policy targets.

Key performance areas for shareholder management

(i) Analysis of SOE financial performance;

(ii) Undertaking benchmarking exercise on financial performance of SOEs;

iii) Evaluate implications of universal obligations;

(iv) Analysis of convergent technologies;

(v) Analyze viability of emergent technologies to enable universal access.

Comments by the Chairperson on the presentations

The following comments were noted:

· The need to plan with the DoC on how these work together, and who does what in order to assist the Committee;

Questions on the presentation

Comments by the Deputy Minister: The Committee was informed that the presentation was based on the strategic thinking of managers. Another presentation would be made before the committee, which would include time frames and would be developed within the new structure of the DoC. This would be available after the Minister had tabled the budget vote and strategic plans before Cabinet. The Minister's report would also provide expected Bills based and deadlines will find that challenges. The deputy Minister apologised for not having a full programme, since it still had to be developed.

The Chairperson inquired about how the Department planned to ensure that the emergency number 112 was connected to all the provinces?

The 112 emergency number is located in Cape Town. The unit works closely with Medicare and 10111. It is in a pilot phase and the DoC aims to expand it in all other provinces. The emergency number will have provincial effect and the Select Committee would need to take note of this facility through the oversight function.

How did Postal Services p/an to ensure that the recent shares were more publicised to encourage people to become shareholders?

These shares are Government Bonds that were bought by the President and the Minister of Finance. The shares fall within the ambit of the Minister of Finance. The Post Office, however, still has a role to play in conveying this to members of the public.

Mr Kolweni inquired about the strategic plans of the DoC, specifically with reference to restructuring. What impact t would this process have on employees in the respective departments?

The restructuring process is based on certain policy objectives that have been agreed upon with the government, e.g. job creation. The public entity, therefore, is required to demonstrate its ability in terms of this agreement to ensure that jobs are not lost in the process. There is a technology strategy that has been developed, which encourages more employment. Therefore attempts have been made to ensure that the restructuring process supports job retention.

With reference to the transfers reflected in the report, what other stakeholders who reported to the Minister were not mentioned

The report does not include everything, but the Minister '5 Budget Vote will be inclusive. Among the entities not included in the presentation is Telkom, who does not require funding from the state. Sentech, the signal distributor is also not subsidised by the state.

 

What are the challenges facing the DoC in implementing the Postal Services Amendment Bill and how far is the DoC in realizing the outcome of the Bill?

The main challenge is dealing with a variety of stakeholders with uncertain outcomes.

Ms Ndalane asked about the kind of mechanisms that the DoC had in place to evaluate its policy with specific reference to key performance areas?

The Department assesses itself in comparison to the performance of other countries with similar programmes, like performance of the ICT sector in other countries (More information will be incorporated in the departmental plan).

The report does not include time frames, which could assist performance. These will be included in the departmental plan, which can be presented to before the committee at a later stage.

Ms Themba questioned whether the policy framework of the DoC had any aspects that related to the quality of life and status of women and whether there was bud9et and staff complement covering this aspect

.

The DoC has a gender unit as part of its policy, which encourages the participation of women and has employed in its Procurement Unit and Strategic Division.

At what level was the person handling gender focal points participating in decision-making process?

There is a senior manager (Director level post) who sits on the management forum, which amongst other things deals with gender related issues. The position falls within the Director -General's Office, who closely deals with gender-related issues. It is included in the DoC's budget but was not reflected in the presentation before the Committee. The Deputy Director general mentioned that more information on this matter, which reflects more involvement on gender issues, is available and will be made available to the Committee at a later stage. (Committee Secretary to make a follow up on this matter).

Mr Gamede expressed his sense of appreciation at the DoC's attempt to respond to the Presidential Speech. He inquired why the all the 21 nodes are not considered in the presentation.

The DoC will have to replan the presentation to reflect the 21 nodal points and also make reference to rural development. The DoC would brief the Committee on this at a later stage. (Committee Secretary to follow this matter)

Mr Gamede's request for the organogram of the DoC was noted, which could assist the Committee in understanding the DoC's responsibility. (Committee Secretary to follow this matter)

He further inquired about progress made by the DoC in relation to the SNO and ICT as reflected in the State of the Nation Address.

The deadline for the SNO has been set the Minister will be able to report on this within three months. DoC to be invited for a briefing on this matter).

With regard to community radio stations, what criteria does the DoC use in the allocations, considering that these radio stations are closed in other provinces?

The DoC considered two aspects, for giving out infrastructures to communities also get the opportunity to develop programme production, there are areas that may need special intervention, e.g. programmes for children, for the disabled or on crime. Communities are given the opportunity to conduct these programmes in their own language and people from the community are involved in these activities. The DoC would like to offer more assistance but this is depended on affordability. It would have to consider requesting more funds from the Treasury in order to be able to increase funding.

What was the DoC planning to do about huge profits from Telkom?

The Deputy Minister stated that Telkom was well placed in the global market. There is however a concern that it can proclaim such high profits and yet large section of the population were not receiving the benefits from the entity. The DoC will have to address this matter with Telkom at a later stage. He emphasised that the Committee can play an oversight role and request answers from Telkom in this regard. He also reported that Telkom in its presentation before Parliament the following day was expected to place this matter in its agenda.

How did the DoC plan to intervene to reduce the costs?

The presentation by Telkom will be questioned by Parliament the following day and this question was reflected on the agenda.

Mr Kolweni asked in terms of the restructuring process of SOE, how did the DoC plan to ensure that this processes doe not affect the labour force adversely

Clarity was requested from the DoC on the clustering process?

These are core government departments, which work together on similar areas in order to realise certain objectives.

Mr Van Rooyen noted that the DoC acknowledged the Batho Pele principles. He requested the DoC to provide the Committee with further information (figures) in this regard.

Mr Sinclair stated that the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) experienced problems with the running costs of SMME and the monopoly by Telkom in SA. Where did Cabinet stand on this matter?

The DoC plans encourage competition by consulting the Competition Commission (under the DTI) and also consultation with relevant stakeholders and the Regulator in order to encourage competition.

He asked how the DoC planned to address delivery in rural areas. This matter will be addressed in the integrated plans of the DoC.

What are the DoC's plans to meet the needs of the under-serviced areas with regard to their licensing?

The DoC through the tendering process had short-listed 10 companies and four have been approved unconditionally, while seven companies (SMME) were referred to the Regulator for clarifications. The DoC has allocated R30 million over two years to support them and help them succeed. ICASA has been tasked to fast track the licensing process.

The Deputy Minister commented on the recent speech by the Minister of Public Enterprises in response to the Presidential Speech.

· Stressed the need to enhance the availability of SOEs, and oversight responsibility over them.

· Collaboration between the clusters in order to enhance technology levels are enhanced in order to assist with the development process.

· Sixty MPCC (Multipurpose Community Centres) are to be built before the end of December. Departments are expected to come up with at least a plan to put up 1 MPCC in each of the 284 municipal areas. This means therefore, that the DoC is expected to include this in its plan.

The Chairperson said that the plans of the DoC indicated that there was an opportunity for our people. The Committee intended to invite Sentech and Telkom to make presentations.

The Chairperson thanked the Deputy Minister, the delegates and the Committee for their contribution at the meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 16:30.

 

Ms N Ntwanambi Acting Chairperson