As the country prepares for the State of the Nation Address (SONA), which marks the opening of Parliament this week, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one bracing myself for what could be the most peculiar SONA yet delivered by president Jacob Zuma.
I say peculiar, because there is an almost palpable tension in the lead-up to this year's event, promising to turn the SONA itself into a disappointing anti-climax. I also have a feeling Zuma himself must be feeling the heat, not only from the political and socio-economic calamities that he will have to address, but also from the unprecedented opposition forces that are threatening to disrupt proceedings.
Frankly, it is would be difficult to put money on which of the country's current crises is most likely to cause the prez the most pain, given the minefield of tricky issues he will have to navigate. Given the electricity crisis, the shoddy state of basic education, rising unemployment, ever-present corruption, and ongoing dramas within key state organs such as the Hawks and the SA Revenue Service, Zuma is a man with a huge weight on his shoulders.
On top of this, Zuma must be acutely aware of the looming spectre of Julius Malema's red army of agitators that are waiting to strike - a potentially explosive situation that even divine intervention, in the form of Rhema Bible Church pastor Ray McCauley, could not diffuse.
With all of this hanging over Zuma's head, it unfortunately means ICT is likely to be even lower down on the president's to-do list this year, if that were at all possible.
On the whole, the ANC's track record of leveraging tech as an economic enabler has left much to be desired. Beyond the occasional quip about developing a smart economy and worn-out clich'es about bridging the digital divide, government has done little to embrace the true potential of ICTs.
Fleeting mention
At last year's SONA, Zuma mentioned the 37 000km of fibre-optic cable that had been laid by the private and public sectors in the previous five years would be "significantly expanded in the years ahead", but no further details were given about how this would be done, or how it would benefit the country.
In 2013, Zuma also referred fleetingly to ICT, stating only that SA's broadband network would be expanded in a bid to reach universal penetration by 2020. Sadly, there is little indication that much progress has been made in this regard, and this target has quietly been pushed out to 2030.
Yet, according to industry watchers, several urgent ICT-related issues should ideally be addressed by the president. These include digital migration, allocation of high-demand spectrum, an ineffectual sector regulator, and the delivery of high-speed broadband, to name but a few. Regretfully, these are all issues that have been on the agenda time and time again, and government has repeatedly failed to show significant progress in any of these areas.
On the contrary, SA's broadcast digital migration has become a classic example of how not to execute a key national project. Sadly, while government has had almost a decade to get it together, it has done little but obfuscate, complicate and fluff the issue.
And while the road to SA's digital migration is littered with the skeletons of deadlines missed, promises broken and opportunities wasted, it is almost comical that the ANC declared at its recent lekgotla that government must move with the "necessary speed" to meet the international 15 June deadline for digital switchover. Whatever the "necessary speed" would be, it is now a given that SA will miss the deadline by some years. And even at this late stage, government seems to still be unclear about whether set-top boxes should include encryption or not.
Intrinsically linked to the stalled digital migration initiative is the allocation of high-demand spectrum, which is increasingly being referred to as a unicorn by industry analysts, as it has taken on almost mythical proportions. The urgency for high-demand spectrum among ICT players has been discussed and debated to the point of ad nauseam, yet government has remained unmoved.
Morbidly comical
Ironically, the ANC's recent lekgotla established that ICT, especially broadband, has the "potential to propel our economy to higher levels of growth, opening opportunities for new industries, and modernising the delivery of social and economic services".
On the whole, the ANC's track record of leveraging tech as an economic enabler has left much to be desired.
One might be tempted to say this is an encouraging sentiment, but on the contrary, it's just morbidly comical. It's a bit late in the day for government to be regurgitating truisms around an issue that is ultimately holding up the rollout of affordable telecoms and stifling the provision of connectivity to those in underserviced areas. It's kind of like marvelling at the wonder of the wheel. Again, this is a clear example of government's aptitude for much lip service, but little action.
Of course, many of the problems faced by the Independent Communications Authority of SA, the South African Broadcasting Corporation and a host of other parastatals have been confounded by the mysterious split communications ministry that has put many a spanner in the works of government's ICT ambitions.
Neither the Department of Communications, nor the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services have achieved any significant milestones and have often made headlines for all the wrong reasons. At the same time, ICT experts are still trying to wrap their heads around the twin ministry set-up and its actual purpose.
But given the current climate, don't hold your breath for any ICT-related nuggets of wisdom at this year's SONA.
Considering the weighty issues facing the president this year, I can only imagine Zuma would secretly welcome any form of distraction. Perhaps even a deep voice from the crowd, shouting: "Pay back the money!"
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