CC image courtesy of GovernmentZA on flickr.
Communications minister Dina Pule has fired a warning to public enterprises, including the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and Sentech, as she bids to deliver on her policy commitments.
In a Department of Communications (DoC) statement released today, Pule said from now on she will hold monthly meetings with the chiefs of state-owned companies (SOC).
The SABC in particular has continued to hit the headlines for the wrong reasons this year and currently remains under an interim board after all but one of the permanent members resigned in March and April.
Pule said: “I decided to streamline how I relate to the SOCs to ensure that, as a department, we improve the quality of service we deliver to our citizens. On the evidence from my revised engagements with the SOCs, I’m confident we shall meet all the goals we have set ourselves.”
As well as committing to get more hands on with the SOCs, Pule said she plans to release a revised draft policy dealing with set-top box (STB) control before opening up consultation to all stakeholders.
The STB solution is crucial to South Africa meeting the July 2015 International Telecommunications Union (ITU) deadline for digital migration.
Pule had originally granted sole control of STBs to state-owned Sentech, but subsequently lost a court battle with e.tv who believed the move unfair.
