Department of Communications Annual Performance Plan

Meeting report

Apologies and Agenda

Apologies were received from the Minister and Deputy Minister, Mr C Smit (DA; Limpopo), Ms N Koni (EFF; Northern Cape) and Mr M Nhanha (DA; Eastern Cape).

The Committee adopted its agenda for the day.

Opening remarks by the Chairperson

The Chairperson welcomed everyone and asked Members to introduce themselves. Following that he asked one person from the two Departments to introduce members of the delegations.

Ms W Ngwenya (ANC, Gauteng) wanted to check how long the meeting would be. She pointed out there were many meetings scheduled for the day and she had to attend another meeting at 11:00 therefore could only stay for one hour.

The Chairperson took note and asked the Department to be brief with their presentations however without compromising the content.

Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) Annual Performance Plan 2019/20

Mr Farhad Osman, Acting DDG: Admin, DTPS, presented the Department’s Annual Performance Plan (APP). The presentation looked at APP priorities for the DTPS. The Department had five strategic goals stemming from the 2015-2020 Strategic Plan which included broadband connectivity that provided secure and affordable access for all citizens; developing South Africa into a modern sustainable and competitive postal and telecommunications sector; building an inclusive society and knowledge economy; improving performance of the SOCs through active and stringent oversight; corporatisation of the Post Bank  through amendment of the Post Bank Act; and monitoring the departmental budget and procurement plan according to departmental priorities as well as assessments of strategic risk.

The presentation emphasised alignment of the DTPS priorities with government priorities. The planning process was informed largely by mandating documents such as the National Development Plan (NDP), the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), nine-point plan, the 2019 SONA as well as relevant policies and strategies at play within the Department such as the ICT White Paper and SA Connect. It also provided a few slides on the financial information that would fund these priorities.

The strategic objective aligned to broadband connectivity is in response to the NDP priority of achieving 100% universal access to broadband connectivity by 2024. It leans largely towards the continuation of connectivity in relation to implementation of SA Connect.

Mr Osman highlighted the extensive challenges and delays in terms of getting the project off the ground, however he pointed out that connectivity has commenced largely through entities like SITA and BBI. Another thing to consider was additional funding of proposals for the rollout of phase two of broadband connectivity.

The second strategic goal is related to the NDP outcome of creating an inclusive economy enabled by advanced digital technologies and rehabilitation and restructuring of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and public entities. The focus of ICT legislation policy will be on the Digital Development Fund (DDF) Bill as well as developing a Big Data and Cloud Policy. Additionally, there will be commencement of the Review of the Integrated ICT Policy White Paper. The Department will be looking at repositioning SOEs. This will be done by finalising and seeking Cabinet approval of the State IT Company Bill focused on repurposing of SITA. Cabinet approval will also be sought for the State ICT Infrastructure Company Bill which largely affects BBI. In addition, and in keeping with this objective, the World Radio Conference 2019 Outcomes Report (WRC) will be drafted following the Department’s participation in the 2019 World Radio Conference which is taking place in the third quarter. That outcomes report will largely inform the review of the National Radio Frequency Plan.

Under the same strategic goal, the next strategic objective is around the focus on growing and sustaining ICT SMMEs.  The Department developed an ICT SMME Development Strategy and these were prominent in the 2019 SONA and NDP. Aligned to this will be continuation of support to the S Post Office (SAPO) in terms of e-commerce platforms. The Department developed the prototype for the e-commerce platform and will continue supporting them in the hopes of increasing participation in local SMM’s. In this regard, in order to facilitate the ICT Development Strategy, there will be focus on capacity building of SMMEs by giving them access to markets and relevant ICT infrastructure.

The next strategic objective is around advancing South Africa’s national ICT interest in reginal and international forums. This covers the ICT international agenda which relates to the MTSF priority of building a better Africa and a better world. The Department will continue to ensure its presence in relevant ICT international forums and spaces to promote the global ICT agenda. In this regard the RSA Position Paper will be developed and advanced at the ITU-WRC- 19. Similarly, the RSA Position Paper will be developed and advanced for BRICS ICT Ministerial 2019. There will be two partnership programmes secured towards development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in South Africa.

The third strategic goal objectives related to implementation of the national e-strategy which the Department developed and is in the process of commencing. It additionally focuses on e-government services. Here the focus largely is on approval and implementation of the National Digital Skills Strategy which needs to be approved by Cabinet in order to commence with implementation. Another strategic objective is the development of a country plan for 4IR coordinated through the Presidential Commission On the 4IR which was appointed and is up and running and will provide the relevant technical, secretarial and administrative support as well as project management support to ensure the country plan is developed accordingly. Implementation of the e-government programme for smart cities will also be facilitated by the Department which is aligned to the e-strategy.

The fourth strategic goal has a double focus in terms of SOCs and the Department. It looks at improving performance of the SOCs through active and stringent oversight and this is linked to the NDP intervention to strengthen SOCs and public entities. The Department will continue its SOC oversight role by monitoring and analysing their quarterly performances. The Department also plans to look at corporatisation of the Post Bank through the amendment of the Post Bank Act. Bills related to nationalisation of SOCs are also related to this strategic objective with the aim of improving the state of SOCs. 

The last strategic goal that is internally focused to the Department is designed to institutionalise these practices. The Department will continue to digitise departmental processes to continue the transition to a paperless Department. This will be done through identification of additional processes for which the leave and submission processes have already commenced. The Workplace Skills Plan will also be implemented which is aligned to the DTPS mandate. The reconfigured department will be established to deliver the new mandate which is line with National Macro Organisation of Government Processes led by the Presidency and the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA).  On 22 November 2018, the President merged the two ministries of Communications and Telecommunications and Postal Services to ensure better alignment and coordination in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The new name of the Department of Communications and Technologies was pronounced in a presidential proclamation. Both Departments are participating in an end mark process and the immediate focus is on developing a macro organisational structure which will then look at existing functions of the existing Departments, bringing them together under one umbrella, the placement of staff into this new Department and the creation of a new budget going forward. Also key is the development of a new 2020-2025 Strategic Plan as well as the 2021 Annual Performance Plan for the newly-merged Department.

Ms Joy Masemola, Chief Financial Officer, DTPS, highlighted a few areas from the financial performance. The Department had been allocated a total budget of R5.1 billion:

• In 2019/20: R1.6 billion
• In 2020/21: R1.7 billion
• In 2021/22: R1.7 billion

This adds up to a total of R5.1 billion

Referring to economic classification, the current payment was inclusive of compensation of employees and goods and services.

For the COE the allocation was as follows:

• In 2019/20: R241 million,
• In 2020/21: R259 million
• In 2021/22: R276 million

Under goods and services the main project was the SA Connect project on broadband which was allocated as follows:

• In 2019/20: R371 million
• In 2020/21: R400 million
• In 2021/22: R425 million

For transfers and subsidies, which are mainly transfers to the entities, the allocation was as follows:

• In 2019/20: R1 billion
• In 2020/21: R1.1 billion
• In 2021/22: R956 million

This totals to: R1.7 billion

Department of Communications (DOC) Annual Performance Plan 2019/20

Ms Kedibone Phetla, Director: Strategic Planning, DOC, presented the Department’s Annual Performance Plan (APP). The Department had five priorities which would be implementing for the current financial year. The first was to improve universal access to broadcasting services and information which will be done by developing and implementing an audio, visual and digital contact strategy. This will be achieved through three priority objectives - the first will focus on moving the broadcasting sector into the 4IR. The second will look at finalising and tabling the Broadcasting Amendment Bill to Cabinet. The third will be establishment of project management that will support the 4IR Presidential Commission.

The second priority is the DTT Broadcasting Digital Migration which was in the hands of the Department for quite a while and lessons learned around DTT will enable the Department to review the delivery model in order to accelerate release of the radio spectrum and monitor as per identified provinces. The revised model will also give provincial plans that information regarding when the Department will be in the different provinces, the length of time it would be there and what the specific activities would be. The Department will revert to Cabinet to present the revised model. Monitoring reports will also be tabled at Cabinet on a quarterly basis.

The third priority is ICT SMME and enterprise development.  In the current financial year, the Department will be implementing the audio-visual SMME programme focused on providing training to ICT SMMEs. This training will be around enterprise development as well as 4IR skills. Producers will be trained to produce content at a fast rate using the digital processes acquired from the industry. After this training the Department will ensure they have access to platforms to share the content they have produced.

The fourth priority is international participation and engagement. Members would recall the previous presentation had many international engagements and the two Departments have already started working jointly so the DOC will be developing the Position Paper as well as the Outcomes Report jointly with DTPS. The Department will develop and advance the RSA Position Paper for BRICS ICT Ministerial 2019. Two partnership programmes will be secured towards development of 4IR in SA. The Department will also support South Africa’s chairship of the AU.   

The fifth priority is SOC governance. There are a number of strategies the DTPS and DOC will implement in order to support SOCs.

Mr Frik Niemand, Acting Chief Financial Officer, DOC, focused on the 2019/20 financial year. The total budget allocation was R1.5 billion and the bulk is allocated to the programme hosting the SOCs and Government Communication and Information Service (GCIS). Programme one, which hosts the Minister, Deputy Minister and the rest of Corporate Services and Finance, has a total budget allocation of R64.9 million. Programme two has an allocation of R16.4 million and this hosts policy development of the Department. Programme three hosts the DTT project and has an allocation of R47.4 million. This brings the total budget to R1.5 billion.

The presentation then illustrated the operational budget allocated to the DOC. As indicated before, the total budget is R1.5 billion and the money allocated to the compensation of employees, subsidies etc cannot not be used for any other unintended purpose.

For all practical purposes, the Department only has R55.9 million available for goods and services. This is the operational budget for the year. Included in this R55.9 million is the money intended for the DPP project.

Discussion

Ms W Ngwenya, (ANC, Gauteng) began by expressing dissatisfaction over the recurring theme of only receiving documents at the Committee meetings as this does not give Members enough time to critically engage with the documents beforehand in order to ask the relevant questions. This is especially important in an instance where Members raise questions that have already been addressed in the documents. Another big challenge facing the Committees was the fact that there seemed to be many Acting Director-Generals in the Departments. Ms Ngwenya wanted to know how long the Acting Director-General had been in that position and whether the vacancy was advertised. She further noted the Department had many problems and being presented with large figures in the presentations still left her unable to find adequate solutions.

The Chairperson asked the Committee Secretary to respond about the documents as he noted they were received from the Department a week prior however, he pointed out the discrepancy between the documents sent by the Department and the presentations currently unfolding.

The Committee Secretary confirmed the Department sent all the documents the week prior and these were emailed to all Members.

The Chairperson, on the Acting Director General vacancy, suggested Ms Ngwenya refer the matter to the Minister in writing as he did not see it fit for the Acting DOC Director-General to respond to a question about her employment.

Ms LC Bebee (ANC, Mpumalanga) thanked the Department and pointed out Members did receive the documents on time. First, she asked whether there was full funding for the 500 million indigent households identified to receive free set-top boxes in implementing the Digital Migration Project. Secondly, referring to a slide that stated the Department planned to appoint ‘local installers’, she wanted to know whether the term ‘local installers’ meant that current installers were not from South Africa or if it meant local to the respective communities.

Mr A Arnolds (EFF, Western Cape) wanted to know if there was an amount of funds for the broadband connectivity project referred to in the first presentation where 570 and an additional 400 sites were mentioned. If not, where would the additional funds be sourced? Secondly, he wanted feedback about the amount of money referred to in the announcement made by the Minister about the bailout of the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Mr Arnolds pointed out this information was important because of its impact on the financial situation of the Department. Going forward, there should be time set aside to have the Department report back so that Members could exercise their oversight role in terms of the priorities mentioned and what they need to achieve. He expressed the need for the Committee to keep an eye on the entities in order to make sure that money is well spent.

The Chairperson expressed there will be time this term to discuss the entities with special focus on the SABC. This was adopted in the Committee programme.

Mr J Nyambi (ANC, Mpumalanga) welcomed the presentations given by the Departments. He noted there were two presentations of two APPs from two different Departments, namely the DOC and the DTPS. Therefore Members should have also been presented with a separate apology from the Director-General of the DTPS as it was not sufficient to only have received apologies from the Minister and Deputy Minister. He pointed out the importance of starting on the right footing and addressing this matter as it could otherwise create problems that could persist for the next four to five years. Speaking from his experience of being a House Chairperson and dealing with Committees, he stated that sometimes Ministers accused Select Committees in Parliament of treating them differently. However, he highlighted that in this instance, Members received an apology from the Minister and Deputy Minister for the first meeting of the Committee with the two Departments in the Sixth Parliament and the fact that despite it being the first meeting, neither the Minister nor Deputy Minister was present. In addition to that, the Committee had not been presented with a Director-General that was permanently appointed - something he asked the Chairperson to note. He admitted that occasionally it may be impossible to have the Minister, Deputy Minister and both Director-Generals present at Committee meetings because of other prior commitments which would be understandable however he was adamant this was not acceptable for the very first meeting and could create a problem that could be with the Committee for five years.

He commended the Department for the way they gave their presentations which were well prepared. He emphasised the importance of giving credit where it was due. He stated that he received the information regarding the presentations as early as Thursday the previous week so he noted the Department was not at fault. Members ought to prepare by making use of the tools at their disposal in order to be effective in meetings.

Mr Nyambi, referring to the SONA commitments which emphasised small and medium enterprises and the creation of market access, said it would be good to get a sense of the Department’s focus. He pointed out this was not a Portfolio Committee and when drafters of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa created Select Committees, they were clear the mandate would be distinct from that of Portfolio Committees. The Departments should not feel as though they were giving a repetition of presentations already made in the National Assembly because the fact remained that this Committee was not a Portfolio Committee so in actual fact it was not a repetition of information.  He pointed out  that he introduced himself as ‘Jomo Nyambi, I am representing Mpumalanga’ – therefore, when the Department was presenting, he would have liked to see specific detailed information on what is happening in the different respective provinces such as the Eastern Cape, the Free State, and Mpumalanga. This would enable him to assist by going to check in instances where the Departments had presented that they had connected 570 sites. A slide depicting the sites should have been included in the presentation to the Committee. This will enable him to commend the Department for the good work they had done in the province that he represented. This would also avoid a repetition of what is happening in the other House, which he stated served no purpose. He recommended that slides that stated that ‘in Mpumalanga we have ten sites in three municipalities’, for example, be included in the presentation. This would avoid an instance where the Committee commends the Departments for setting up sites in places that perpetuated the triangle of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. In this instance, Mpumalanga was seen as rural and was not included neither were the Northern Cape, the Free State and North West. Having detailed slides would assist Members to commend the Department when something was done correctly.

Mr Nyambi referred to the matter raised by Ms Ngwenya about the Acting Director-General stating that despite the Minister’s absence, representatives from the Department who work with the Ministers ought to know whether or not the post was advertised or if there was a plan to fill the vacancy by a specific date. This would enable the Committee to hold the Department accountable for filling the vacancy by the stipulated dates. This was an exercise of oversight which was purposed to be of assistance to the Department and should not be seen as antagonistic. He emphasised this was why the Department ought to inform the Committee so that Members can adequately assist and that matters are not misconstrued as capitalising on the Department’s shortcomings. The Committee will commend the Department when they did things correctly while also holding them accountable when they made commitments they did not adhere to.

Mr Nyambi asked what was happening with compliance regarding the payment of invoices as the Department stated it had targeted 100%. He wanted to know what the current situation was as he thought this had been resolved in the past. He also asked for an explanation on the status of the Digital Migration Project- when would the Department plan to finalise the project? He expressed frustration at the manner in which this had been communicated in the presentation which appeared to be just for the sake of compliance.

Mr Nyambi wanted to know the status of the many disputes that were taken to court in the past.

Mr Nyambi asked what were the implications of the transfer process of the entities, including GCSI, Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) and BrandSA, that had been transferred to the Presidency.

Mr Nyambi, referring to the proclamation, stated the merger of the two Departments was welcomed and wanted to know what the effect of this was on staff morale.  

Mr Nyambi concluded by stating that when the Department did something correct by timeously sending the documents, the Committee should not give the impression that Members did not go through the documents sent to them beforehand.

Department response

Ms Nomvuyiso Batyi, Acting DG, DOC, thanked Members for all their questions. She stated that currently, the Digital Migration Project was not fully funded. There was a portion of funding that was assigned to the Department and BOSASA but a shortfall still existed and as a result, a letter was written to National Treasury to seek funding.

Ms Batyi explained that before, installers were sourced from Johannesburg and other major cities but currently they would be hired from local communities where the households existed. In this respect the Department signed a MOU about how registration in those areas would be done as local communities were prioritised. 

The Minister was directed by Cabinet to review the current model for DTT and had been given 90 days from her Budget Vote Speech to complete this review. She still had less than 80 days to do this. The Department’s target had always been to complete the migration by 2021 but this was dependent on funding constraints as well as obtaining approval of finances.

Ms Batyi explained the SMMEs for ICT involved both the DOC and DTPS. The DOC was working with the creative industry with individuals like producers, and people who create content on platforms such as phones and televisions. So far the Department targeted different provinces and conducted training in the North West, Northern Cape and Limpopo. She explained further that in the coming quarter, other provinces will be targeted. She detailed an example of how proactive creatives in the North West province identified vacant studios and had asked the Department to facilitate a meeting with the SABC to get permission for them to take over the studios which the Department did. This was vital to the creation of local content and if a Tswana speaking person wanted Tswana content they should be able to access it.

Ms Batyi said the SABC bailout was in line with what the Minister of Finance had said the previous day. There were many terms and conditions that the SABC had to comply with but had failed to do so. This was reason the bailout would be released in chunks so as to avoid a perpetuation of the problem in two years’ time. The Department was trying to ensure the SABC complied with conditions set out by National Treasury and the Department. The chunks of money would only be released once the Appropriation Bill was signed by the President.

Ms Batyi, on the question about the payment of invoices, explained the DOC had enjoyed a clean audit for the 2018 financial year. The team there looked at compliant invoices and decided which invoices needed to be prioritised such as the SMME invoices, for example. A lot of work was done for example with rotation of suppliers and positive feedback was received from the Auditor-General. This illustrated the level of detail the Department went into.

GCIS, MDDA and BrandSA had already been transferred to the Presidency. The process came in various stages beginning with the proclamation by the President followed by the meeting with the Ministers. There were still many overlaps in terms of functions and the process still currently sat with the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). The only thing that had not been fully transferred was the function of Media Policy and Memos which had been circulating in order for it to go directly to the Presidency.

Ms Batyi stated that the end-mark process was led by DPSA and GCIS and comprised of various streams such as the financial and HR stream as well as what the structure of the organisation would look like. As of last week, there was a new part added that addressed the change of management to address how staff will deal with the merger. Although government gave reassurances that people would not lose their jobs, the staff still had reservations and as a result some of the team members were receiving training in this regard.

With the digital migration cases, some were resolved where the Departmemt either won or lost the cases but the bulk of cases still sat with BOSASA who was being sued by many installers. Installers got awarded tenders that in some instances were illegally awarded or when the tender was awarded there were specifications missing and as a result BOSASA wanted to renegotiate. In some instances some did not have smart cards. There were many details involving BOSASA and the Department’s responsibility was that of oversight to ensure cases were finalised. Moreover, 26 people lodged complaints against BOSASA and most of these were finalised in favour of BOSASA hence the local installations could proceed with commencement.

Mr Osman referred to the end-mark process saying this aligned to the change management strategy which was a communication strategy developed to focus on different communication platforms that will exploit different messages and themes designed to comfort staff during the merger process. In addition, the two Departments also had a joint staff meeting to communicate processes. This explained what staff could expect as well as key milestones to come. The Departments were not filling vacancies because in November, following the Presidential announcement, the Minister issued a moratorium on the filling of vacancies as it related to the end-mark process. This was because there will be a duplication of many functions after the merger, especially in the corporate services area, and secondly, the merger of the Departments would require a restructuring process and a revision of the organisational structure to align it to the new strategy. Once the moratorium was lifted, the vacant positions would be advertised.

Ms Mameetse Masemola, Acting DDG, ICT Policy Development, DTPS, speaking on implementation of the ICT SMME Development Programme, stated that two financial years ago, the Department developed the ICT SMME Development Strategy which was approved by Cabinet. In the last financial year, a programme was rolled out to implement that strategy. The strategy was focused on four areas namely SMME: market access, access to infrastructure, access to capacity building programmes and skills development capacity building programmes. The roll out of implementation of this strategy was focused on Broadband Phase One District Municipalities. She listed the Gert Sibande District Municipality in Mpumalanga, the OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, the uMgungundlovu District Municipality  and uMzinyathi District Municipality in KwaZulu- Natal, the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality in North West and the Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo as examples where interventions were focused to work with and leverage resources of private sector companies who had signed MOUs as well as existing government entities such as SIGA, Samsung South Africa and the Technology Innovation Agency. The Department would be happy to return to the Committee to make an expanded presentation on this point as there was a lot of work that was being done.

A Department official addressed the two questions about Broadband stating that the current funding allocation from National Treasury covered both the 400 and 700 sites however, the 570 sites were targeted for the previous financial year and once they had been set up, their connectivity had to be paid for. Part of the allocated funding was to cover the costs of continuation of the connectivity at the 570 sites. The other part of the funding was to provide connectivity to the new 400 sites. Therefore, the total funding for both the 570 and 400 sites was unfortunately R174 million for the current financial year. He then addressed the site selections and stated the primary objective of rolling out SA Connect was to address broadband connectivity challenges primarily in the rural areas. Thus rural areas were prioritised in the rollout of SA Connect. In its current implementation, eight District Municipalities were identified in seven provinces excluding Gauteng and Western Cape. Sites were allocated according to infrastructure currently available. The two entities that roll out the broadband connectivity are Broadband Infraco and SITA which are State-Owned Entities that report to the Department. He confirmed there were a number of sites allocated to each District Municipality and referred to Mpumalanga were there were 121 out of the 570 sites and 54 out of the 400 sites installed.  He also mentioned there were sites in OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality in the Freestate, uMgungundlovu and uMzinyathi District Municipalities in KwaZulu- Natal, Pixley Ka Seme District Municipality in the Northern Cape, Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality in North West and Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo.

Mr Nyambi, concerning future presentations, advised the Departments to include the amount of detail they had referenced in their replies in their initial presentations. Their detailed responses covered what was missing from the presentations. The Departments should have a distinction in the manner in which they present to Portfolio Committees and Select Committees especially when it came to the work being done in the provinces. That would enable Members to give detailed report backs to their constituencies in the respective provinces. This is the distinctive nature of the National Council of Provinces.

The Chairperson stated the apology of the Director-General was received. However, he reiterated the emphasis of the Committee that the Department and Ministers ought to be present when invited to present before the Committee.

The Chairperson thanked the Department for the presentations and stated that it had identified a number of matters. When the Committee requested the Department to come and give a presentation, it ought to send documents on time to give Members enough time to scrutinise documents so that they can engage with them.

The meeting was adjourned.