Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Communications crossed the high-risk line of declaring war on those who buy ink by the barrel and paper by the kilometre. The story is bound to escalate. By attacking the messenger rather than repudiating the facts and allegations stacked up against her and by peddling conspiracy theory rather than responding to straight questions, the Minister of Communications is digging herself deeper into a pit of controversy and suspicion.
Straight questions for oral reply on the Information Communications Technologies Indaba, ICT, fiasco posed in this House last year, were removed minutes before she had to respond to them, citing eminent appearance before the Ethics Committee. Speaker, that was eight months ago. The Minister has now unfortunately ventured into the public debate in an attempt to claim victim status.