South African public broadcasting support group the SOS Coalition has said restructuring the Department of Communications and replacing Yunus Carrim will not bring much needed stability.
“Instead of ensuring stability in a ministry that has been beset by scandal and the turbulence caused by five ministers in five years, President Zuma has not only chosen to release the hard-working former minister, Yunus Carrim, from his service, but also redefined the role and mandate of the Communications Ministry,” the group said.
On Sunday, President Jacob Zuma announced his new cabinet, splitting the old Department of Communications in two, with Dr Siyabonga Cwele heading the newly created Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services and Faith Muthambi leading the Department of Communications (DoC).
The SOS Coalition disagreed with Carrim’s removal as communications minister.
“It is the coalition’s view that in his short term of service, Carrim was a singularly stabilising force in the ministry, demonstrating effective and visionary leadership, particularly in his efforts to speed up the long-overdue digital migration process that has been retarded by long-standing conflict between broadcasters and electronics manufacturers,” the group said.
Zuma said the DoC would be comprised of five units: communications regulator the Independent Communication Authority of South African (ICASA), the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), the Government Communications and Information System (GCIS), Brand SA and the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA).
The SOS Coalition said the restructuring should “concern all South Africans”.
“The reorientation of the Communications Ministry not only has the practical implication of undermining the constitutional and statutory imperative to have an independent and people-centered public and community broadcasting sector, but also subverts the ANC’s own policy resolutions which have been consistently adopted in successive policy conferences and promised by high-ranking office bearers including the incumbent deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, as far back as in 1992,” it said.
It said the move strips ICASA and the SABC of any independence and inducts them into government as organs of state.
The restructuring has also been opposed by South African opposition party the Democratic Alliance’s shadow minister for communications Marian Shinn, who said it is designed to give government control over the media, and has pushed the country back by 25 years.
“I think the way these departments have been put together is misguided and will radically inhibit South Africa’s use of ICT to grow the economy and better interact with citizens,” Shinn told HumanIPO.
However, Zuma disagrees.
“Improved communication and marketing will promote an informed citizenry and also assist the country to promote investments, economic growth and job creation,” he said when announcing the new appointments and restructuring.
