Opposition parliamentarians today voiced strong objections to the inclusion of Department of Communications functionaries on the candidate list for Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) councillors.
Members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications were debating a shortlist of candidates to be interviewed from the 58 names that have been submitted by the public.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) both objected strongly to Mashila Matlala, a Department of Communications official, whom they accused of "deliberately subverting the will of the committee". Dene Smuts (DA) charged that Matlala was guilty of this on three occasions.
According to Smuts, the first was during the committee`s deliberations of the ICASA Amendment Act last year, which changed from what the committee originally said to what communications wanted. The second occasion was persuading the National Council of Provinces to adopt the department`s proposals and the third was when she asked the Constitutional Review Committee to drop the word "independent" from ICASA`s title.
"I don`t think she works on her own, she carries out the will of her superiors. I don`t believe that someone who deliberately proposes changes that are concrete to the constitution and does not support the independence of ICASA should be a candidate," Smuts said.
The original draft of the ICASA Amendment Act was rejected by the presidency on constitutional grounds, which resulted in a delay of this law and the closely related Electronic Communications Act.
African National Congress (ANC) MPs rejected the DA and IFP`s arguments, saying they wanted to keep Matlala on the list. Randy Pieterse (ANC) said: "She has been demonstrated that she will carry out her instructions even if you don`t like it. It is the view of the ANC to keep her on the list."
Rubben Mohlaloga (ANC) said he had found no disqualification of Matlala, either in terms of the requirements of the ICASA advert (which details councillor requirements) or her CV. "We are quite firm on that name," he said.
The committee will continue to whittle down the list of candidates so it has about 20 whom it will interview for the five vacant ICASA councillor posts. The final appointments are scheduled to be announced around 5 September.
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