ICASA vacancy: deliberations (Subcommittee)

Meeting report

The Chairperson made introductory remarks and welcomed all present at the meeting. The first item on the agenda was the shortlisted candidates for the ICASA Council which would be sent to the Portfolio Committee on Communications for adoption.

The Subcommittee considered recommendations to make to the Portfolio Committee.

The Chairperson announced to Members that there had been a resignation from one of the sitting councillors at ICASA which created a vacancy. Nine candidate recommendations needed to be made to Parliament to consider. Political parties had also been asked to assist in the process of recommendations by offering their reflections.

Ms N Khubeka (ANC) recommended Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng; Yolisa Kedama; Zolani Matthews; Peter Zimri; Adv Luthando Mkutumela; Dr Charles Lewis; Dikeledi Mushi; Sandisiwe Ncemane; Junior Khumalo and Ashraf Patel.

Ms P Van Damme (DA) said the DA only recommended five candidates as it felt there were not enough candidates to recommend nine. The DA recommended Peter Zimri; Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng; Ashraf Patel; Sandisiwe Ncemane and Dr Charles Lewis. She said the DA did not believe the other candidates on the list were convincing enough to persuade it to believe that the candidates should return to council.

Dr M Ndlozi (EFF) said the EFF recommended Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng; Yolisa Kedama; Peter Zimri; Sandisiwe Ncemane and Amanda Cuba. He said that Amanda Cuba’s track record was one of the most impressive.

Ms Z Majozi (IFP) said the IFP recommended Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng; Ashraf Patel; Sandisiwe Ncemane; Adv Luthando Mkutumela; Zolani Matthews and Yolisa Kedama.

Mr L Molala (ANC) agreed with Ms Majozi. He said the candidates the ANC proposed were similar to what the DA and EFF proposed. He said there were two areas that the Committee needed to engage on as in terms of the Act, it needed to recommend eight candidates. The Committee needed to discuss the recommendation of Amanda Cuba.

The Chairperson answered that there have been resignations at ICASA which need to be considered by the Minister.

Dr Ndlozi said the latest proposal made sense. He said all candidates recommended by the DA also appear on the ANC’s list of recommendations. He said the ANC needed to reduce its recommendations by three candidates to reach the number of eight candidates which were agreed to be recommended. He said the EFF’s recommended candidate, whose name does not appear in either of the lists, would need to be debated. He proposed that the Committee table a vote.

Mr Molala asked for clarity on the number of recommendations that need to be made.

The Chairperson asked the Committee support staff to clarify the matter before Members engaged.

The Committee Secretary said the only issue was the new vacancy at ICASA and that it had not yet been formally referred to the Committee which means that it cannot formally report on it. The Committee could still have a discussion on it so that when it is referred to the Committee, it can convene and adopt it.

Dr Ndlozi said only vacancies that have been declared can be filled as it needs to be subject to a similar process. He asked if the Committee could recommend candidates from the pool it had interviewed for the new vacancy. He thought this would be against the law, but if this would be allowed, another meeting needs to be held.

The Chairperson said it was important that the Committee had this particular briefing as it had not had the opportunity before. The Committee Secretary clarified the matter correctly. The Committee should recommend eight candidates.

Mr Molala said the five candidates that the Committee agreed should be recommended to Parliament must be confirmed. He asked that it also be clarified which candidates the ANC would be recommending and who it would remove from the list. He asked that the Committee engage on the remaining three candidates.

Ms P Faku (ANC) said that according to the Act, the Committee should propose a list of names. She asked for clarity on what Mr Molala said in terms of five candidates that need to be proposed.

Ms Majozi agreed with Mr Molala that there were five common recommendations of candidates. After this was established, the remaining five recommendations from the ANC, the remaining three and the one recommendation from the EFF, which does not appear on any other list, should be confirmed.

The Chairperson asked the Committee secretary to list the candidates recommended by all parties.

The ANC recommended the following candidates:

Keabetswe Modimoeng

Zolani Matthews

Peter Zimri

Adv Luthando Mkutumela

Dr Charles Lewis

Dikeledi Mushi

Sandisiwe Ncemane

Junior Khumalo

Ashraf Patel

The DA recommended the following candidates:

Keabetswe Modimoeng

Yolisa Kedama

Peter Zimri

Sandisiwe Ncemane

Dr Charles Lewis

The EFF recommended the following candidates:

Keabetswe Modimoeng

Yolisa Kedama

Zolani Matthews

Amanda Cuba

Other parties recommended:

Keabetswe Modimoeng

Ashraf Patel

Adv Luthando Mkutumela

Zolani Matthews

Sandisiwe Ncemane

Yolisa Kedama

Junior Khumalo and Dikeledi Mushi appeared on the ANC’s list of recommendation, but not on any other parties list.

Ms Van Damme asked the ANC to consider removing Junior Khumalo from its list as he did not appear on any other list.

The Chairperson asked Ms Khubeka to identify which names would be removed from the ANC’s list.

Ms Khubeka said she would be removing Junior Khumalo and Ashraf Patel.