The Department of Communications' (DOC's) comments to Parliament's communications committee about signal distributor Sentech were described as "unhelpful", by irate committee chairman Ishmael Vadi, of the ANC.
Vadi asked Sentech, the National Treasury and the DOC to sum up their positions following a three-and-a-half hour session aimed at finding a solution to the impasse over the national signal distributor's funding woes that has left it short of money to fulfil its two major projects. These are digital terrestrial TV migration and rolling out wireless broadband connectivity.
Harry Matabane, DOC deputy director-general for finance, commented that his department would work with Sentech and National Treasury to ensure finalising of the funding in time for the next round of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), National Treasury's rolling three-year funding plan.
Shaken and stirred
However, Vadi replied: "This general type of conclusion is unhelpful. These [Sentech's] business plans are not up to scratch and cannot receive funding. Who is taking responsibility here? Is it you? Is it the department [DOC]? Or, is it the DG [DOC director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole], or is it the minister [communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri]?"
Vadi went on to say that the communications minister's budget vote speech is earmarked for 17 May. He noted that he wanted the Sentech issue resolved before then and did not want to have it brought up during the house debate over the speech.
"...we cannot continue with this vagueness that you are giving us. I don't think we can work like this," he said.
A visibly shaken Matabane replied that it is the DOC's role to help provide connectivity with issues such as these and it could only work within the framework of the law.
"When the MTEF process concludes in this financial year, it will give you a sense of progress on how we are going to fund the balance of Sentech's requirements," he said.
However, Vadi was not mollified and wanted a more definite timetable for solving the issue. "This process has been going on for five years. Will it be solved in three months, six months?" he asked.
In terms of the normal budgetary process, Sentech, which falls within the DOC's portfolio of state-owned enterprises, plans its budgetary requirements with the department, which then takes them to National Treasury for motivation. National Treasury then advises finance minister Trevor Manuel and the final appropriations are taken before Parliament.
Core competencies
Earlier in the session, Sentech CFO Siddique Cassim said his company had only received R500 million of the total R4.4 billion worth of funding it needed to roll-out government's wireless broadband strategy. The initiative is aimed at connecting the "Dinaledi" schools, some post offices, hospitals and clinics.
The required tranches were R912 million in the 2007/8 fiscal year, and R666 million in the next year, until the R3.1 billion that the National Treasury was expected to fund was met.
National Treasury director-general for public finance Andrew Donaldson said Sentech should focus on its core competencies of ensuring the country would meet its ambitious goal of digital TV migration over three years.
Donaldson asserted that Sentech's wireless broadband strategy was extremely thin, with no indication that such services were actually needed, who would use them, and how, for instance, the computers at the schools would be funded.
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