Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister Cwele, hon Minister Muthambi, hon Deputy Minister Mkhize and hon Deputy Minister Ndabeni- Abrahams, cochairperson Joyce Moloi-Moropa, hon members, stakeholders, and ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I want to mention our special guest today, a Grade 11 learner, Lonwabo Nkonzo, who has been with us during our public hearings to observe our process and he is also sitting with us today.

Let me take this opportunity to thank my cochairperson, Joyce Moloi-Moropa, and all the members of the two portfolio committees for the collaboration and good work. We thank the committee support team for their dedication and support.

The Joint Portfolio Committee on Communications and Telecommunications and Postal Services held budget hearings with the intention to conduct oversight over the Department of Communications and its entities' budget, as appropriated by the National Treasury under Budget Vote No 27. It is through this process that members of the two portfolio committees made various observations and recommendations.

I must state upfront that the ANC supports this Budget Vote because we believe that the work done in the department and its entities is important and needs to be supported.

While noting that this Budget Vote debate takes place in line with the work of the previous department, it is important to reflect the political direction and welcome the President's decision to establish two new departments, instead of the one which previously fell under this budget. We support this decision because it allows these departments to have better focus, as per the proclamation made by the President, which he signed.

The joint committee received a report from the Auditor-General on the performance of the department and its entities. It is important to acknowledge that there are entities that are doing well and have received unqualified audit outcomes. We raised our concerns with those that did not do well and didn't receive a good outcome. As Parliament, we have a duty to ensure that entities, together with the department, respond to matters raised by the Auditor-General and reach a point where qualified opinions are a thing of the past. We believe we are not very far from that.

President Mandela once said to us, at the opening ceremony of Telecom 95 on 3 October 1995, and I quote:

Given the fundamental impact of telecommunications on society and the immense historical imbalances, telecommunications issues must become part of the general public debate on development policies. Telecommunications cannot be simply treated as one commercial sector of the economy, to be left to the forces of the free market.

The partnership between government and the private sector cannot be overemphasised, as neither can survive without the other in achieving the objectives we have set as a country. It is through this partnership that South Africans will be able to have access to communication tools and the different modes of communicating. It is through this partnership that the drive towards ICT infrastructure development can become a reality.

Building meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with the industry will enhance the credibility and relationship that the government has with both business and consumers, who are all citizens of South Africa. Business must be able to see that there is scope for co-operation with government to realise new revenue streams, while balancing this with the responsibility that organisations have to industry stakeholders.

The increase in the usage of data services and products by government, business and consumers has ensured that current service providers in the industry will be able to derive unprecedented profits from these products and services.

In the same manner in which government is attempting to lower mobile call rates, it should attempt to regulate the prices which service providers are allowed to charge for data. Local loop unbundling has been delayed, which has caused an unnecessary economic barrier to low-cost broadband in South Africa, and this needs to be attended to. In the case of mobile operators, the price of data offerings has been reduced significantly, but it is currently inflated in comparison to other countries of similar development to South Africa.

Digital migration is the process by which broadcasting around the world today is switching from inefficient analogue signals to more efficient digital ones. Transmitting broadcast content is a central element in a wider chain of broadcast communication. In fact, without digital transmission, you do not have digital migration, even if production and reception are digital.

Digital distribution, however, has a major bearing on both the production and consumption dimensions of broadcasting. In this regard, we note the sterling work of Sentech in regard to their state of signal readiness.

The provision of television and radio services to the general public of any nation is an essential component in the process of education, information dissemination, the creation of openness and transparency, and the general entertainment of the nation. In the past financial year, Sentech achieved 99,9% signal distribution availability in order for the general public to watch television and listen to radio in all the three spheres, meaning public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and community broadcasting. The work done by the regional task team needs to be emphasised and supported more. This is in line with Sentech.

The 2015 digital migration deadline remains a crucial target to be met, and the committee will need to place more emphasis on monitoring this process. Amongst others, the concern raised by the committee was the amount required for the public broadcaster in order to fulfil its mandate. We hope the public broadcaster will be given the support it needs to meet this obligation. We welcome the fact that the public broadcaster was able to repay its loan even before the date that was set for the loan to be repaid.

The role of postal services is changing fundamentally. Demand for the distribution of letters, newspapers, magazines, advertisements and other documents is declining, due to the rise of advanced electronic communications. In spite of major investment in the automation and streamlining of delivery networks and drastic cuts in labour costs, several former national post companies are struggling to break even because of decreasing letter volumes and market losses to new competitors.

However, high performers have focused largely on diversification, launching profitable new business lines that are vastly different from their historic business. We note progress made in the light of the corporatisation of Postbank, and we hope Postbank is going to improve by making sure that its revenue finances are stabilised as well.

Economies are becoming increasingly knowledge-intensive and technology- based, which is leading to new socioeconomic and, indeed, regional gaps between those who have the right skills set, or have access to the latest knowledge and information, and those who do not have.

Effective use of these technologies requires building new capacities and skills referred to as e-skills, not only in the work force, but in the entire population. The shortage of e-skills is even more worrying because of the fact that the supply of ICT graduates is now showing a decline.

Locally, e-skills are seen as vital in addressing poverty, sustainable livelihoods, the fight against crime, building cohesive communities, international co-operation and building a developmental state.

A key strategic focus for this sector is to contribute to increasing the ICT skills base in the country through increasing access to and uptake and usage of ICT. The net result has been the integration of the e-Skills Institute, eSI, the Institute for Satellite and Software Applications, Issa, and the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa, Nemisa, into one institute called the Ikamva National e-Skills Institute, iNeSI.

This institute is responsible for the massification of e-skills delivery at all levels, based on an aggregation framework that can harness existing resources and develop new approaches to the co-ordination of appropriate capacity development across key stakeholders such as government, education, business, civil society and organised labour. Going forward, the institute must develop new marketing strategies to ensure that more people are aware of the e-skills initiatives of the department.

South Africa should prioritise local content development in the creation, promotion and preservation of indigenous languages, arts, culture, heritage and innovation, including indigenous knowledge. The promotion of local content in the context of the information society means that ICT should communicate locally relevant messages, information and knowledge. This further means providing opportunities for local people to interact and communicate with one another, expressing their own ideas, knowledge and culture in their own languages. Local content is critical for the promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as the affirmation of cultural identity and heritage. To a large extent this means that information and communication technologies need to be conveyors of locally relevant messages and information.

We congratulate the department on its work through the .za Domain Name Authority and on having identified the need for South Africa's unique domain names, .durban, .capetown and .joburg. This will go a long way as we stride ahead for tourism and investment purposes.

In conclusion, I am looking forward to more interaction and to working together with all stakeholders in this sector. We all have a duty to our country to ensure that ordinary citizens' lives are changed for the better through the respective mandates that we hold. In spite of our political differences, political affiliations and ideological differences, all political parties are obligated to work towards building a better South Africa for all citizens.

I hope we will have more constructive engagement at the committee level, and that we will make sure that we execute our responsibilities in regard to oversight over the executive as mandated by the Constitution. It is through this work that we will be able to attain what we are here for and what we have been mandated to do. It is through this work and working together that we will be able to move South Africa forward. I thank you. [Applause.]