DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS
PRESENTATION OF ANNUAL REPORT TO
THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON
COMMUNICATIONS
14 NOVEMBER 2003
MISSION
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To enable ordinary people to have access to
traditional media and the convenience of information
technology
VISION
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Improve the lives of ordinary South Africans whilst
contributing to economic growth
Make South Africa a knowledge based society and
help create an information economy
2002/03 TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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Telkom IPO on JSE and NYSE
Promulgation of Electronic and Communications law
– Trust center that safeguards the interests of the state and
public has been established
– publication of a tender for the maintenance of a critical
databases for national security of the country
– Invitations to Apply for the nominations of the Board of
Directors for the .ZA domain name
– Panel selected by Minister of Communications
Economic Growth and Foreign Direct Investment
– Investment by MTN and Vodacom in Nigeria and Congo
respectively
– Increase in local mobile lines by 2,5 million
2002/03 TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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Invitations to apply for the Universal Under Services area
Licenses issued
Awareness camping held in all provinces
Public comments received by 31/03/03
Building and construction for the 112 center commenced in
November 2002
Tender to equip the 112 center issued
2002/ 03 POSTAL UNIT
Repositioning of SAPO to:
• Enable SAPO to recapture niche markets between SAPO and
bulk mailers
• Review of current transport and logistics strategy to substitute
it with a cost effective one
• Capping of SAPO’s major liabilities, pension funds and
medical aids
• Reposition SAPO to play a meaningful role in the
disbursements of social grants
2002/03 POSTAL UNIT
Reposition post bank to:
 Become bank of choice for the lower income groups and the
poor
 Contribute to household savings
 Offer short term loans
 Enlarge the base for national savings
 Facilitate social grants payments
 Offer any other third party financial services
2002/03 POSTAL UNIT
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Appointment of the chairperson of the postal
regulator
Finalized the postal tariff review
Appointed a mystery shopper to investigate the
quality of postal services of SAPO
Successfully handled 75 of the 91 complaints
received
2002/ 03 MULTIMEDIA
Promulgation of Broadcasting amendment Act which, amongst
others:
– Requires the development of policies in line with the public
broadcaster’s social obligations
– Provides clear mandate to the SABC as a public broadcaster
– Provides for the conversion of the SABC to a Public
Company
– Will improve the accountability by the SABC board and
management
– Provides for the splitting of the SABC into a public
broadcasting services and commercial services
– Establishes two subcommittees of the board to focus on
managing different mandates
Joint task team established to manage implementation of the
Act.
ADVISORY BODIES REPORTS

Appointed to advise Government & the Department
of Communications on the following issues:
- Issues relevant to the introduction of digital
broadcasting in South Africa
- All issues pertaining to development, utilization
and approach of broadcast content production in
South Africa.
- Recommendations have been submitted by the
two bodies and the Department has submitted its
recommendations to Cabinet
ADVISORY BODIES REPORTS
The Digital Advisory Body Made Recommendations on the
following issues:
• Policy and Legislative processes
• Regulatory and licensing issues
• Frequency spectrum planning
• Network and coverage planning
• Technical Standards
• International Participation and Relations
• Detailed migration plan
 Economic feasibility study
 Consumer research
 Technical aspects requiring further analysis
ADVISORY BODIES REPORTS
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The South African Broadcast Production Advisory
Body Made Recommendations on the following
issues:
– strategic interventions that are critical to the
improvement of production and broadcasting of
South African content.
– the establishment or realignment of existing
specialised institutions to build the required
capacity
– strategic issues that require further interventions in
order to expand the production and display of
South African content in both the South African
and international markets.
ADVISORY BODIES REPORTS
recommendations
 interventions at both the South African and external
markets.
 situations that warrants immediate redress.
 meeting the needs of the African continent for
relevant programming.
 new policy measures,
 structures or Specialized Agencies,
 financing and marketing strategies.
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Postal Regulator
Shareholder Management
– Signing of Shareholder compacts
INTERNATIONAL
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Collaborating with the NEPAD task team and the e-Africa
commission to formulate projects to bridge the digital divide
Launch of SAT-3 cable by Minister and President Wade of
Senegal
Instrumental in the decision by ITU to support the NEPAD ICT
initiatives
Instrumental in the decision by UN to support the NEPAT ICT
initiatives
INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Recruited 23 interns (of which fifteen are women)
 Interns attached to various units of the DoC for period of up to
three months at a time
 Introduced interns to the ICT sector covering issues of policy,
economics and technology
 Provided workshops to introduce interns to policy instruments
developed and administered by DoC
 Arranged visits to industry by interns
 Arranged Lecture by Wits University on space law
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2002/ 03 OTHER
Programme Production for Community sector
 Skills Development and Training in basic and advanced
multimedia skills (ISSA & NEMISA)
 Initiation of Language Portal Programme
 Installation of 15 community stations
 Development of programming hubs in 9 provinces
 Finalized business plans for Rhino Recording Studios
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KEY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
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Convergence Policy
Connecting South Africa
Underserviced area licences
112 emergency project
Edunet
BEE
Inculcating Culture of Savings
Content and Language
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Fully functional Audit Unit established
• Fully functional Audit Committee
• Audit Committee chaired by independent person
• Establishment of a General Managers Forum
• Undertook risk assessment of the department
• Developed a fraud prevention plan under guidance of
fraud committee
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS
THANK YOU