Chairperson and hon colleagues, travelling South Africa's information and communications technology highway this past year has been bizarre. We have gone from muddling along with the third Minister in as many years, to acceleration that blew your hair back with former Minister Carrim in the driving seat, to suddenly hitting a brick wall. The sudden stop, caused by the President's whim to split the department and to create a new Cabinet post and a propaganda department, has the ICT sector milling about in confusion. I am pleased that this afternoon the new Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services has given some clarity on what his department will be doing, but that has been absent for the past couple of weeks. The President's odd decision has once again shown that the ANC hasn't a clue about the critical role ICT plays in the economic development of our nation. It treats stakeholder engagements with contempt, as it ignores their input and advice based on experience and industry expertise. It is clear that the ANC does not understand that perpetual uncertainty and lip service to stakeholders undermines trust and inhibits investment.

Tragically, the uninformed split was a slap in the face for the many South Africans who contributed time, energy and intellectual value to developing South Africa Connect, our broadband policy that has a good chance of stopping our steady slide down the global ICT rankings.

We tried during our portfolio committee hearings on the departments' strategic plans to get clarity on the reasons behind the split and the intentions of the departments, but this was ruled out of order by the committee chairperson. Only yesterday was a presidential proclamation published in the Government Gazette, giving clarity on the legislative mandates of the departments. But there is still no clear vision of what is intended by the split. This information was not available to inform our budget debates.

How many people know that the power to censor movies, books, documentaries and mobile applications now vests with the Minister of Propaganda? Oops! Sorry, the Minister of Good News. [Laughter.] The ICT sector's hearts will sink at the confirmation that the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa is lumped into the Department of Communications alongside the ANC's propaganda machinery. Why? Icasa is mandated to regulate the entire electronic communications sector, not just broadcasting. It belongs in the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services.

This afternoon, we have actually muddied the puddle again, where the hon Minister has told us about what instructions he is going to give to Icasa. Can we please have some clarity here today as to whether Icasa falls under the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services or the Department of Communications? I say this because, hon Minister, it would seem that you are actually contradicting the presidential proclamation. [Interjections.]

There is uncertainty over who will drive the much delayed switchover to digital terrestrial television. Who will oversee the tender process for set- top box assembly, distribution and support? We have no idea. Which Minister, between the Department of Communications and the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, will drive the White Paper draft arising from the ICT Policy Review? I hope yesterday's proclamation means it will be in the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services.

Former Minister Carrim took the policy's Green Paper around the provinces earlier this year, because he valued the input of stakeholders and wanted to include them in the process. He grasped the imperative of delivering an ICT environment that serves all citizens, governments and enterprises for our common good and prosperity.

The presidential whim to split the Department of Communications asunder was not informed by any of the stakeholder engagements of the recent past, or by the National Development Plan, which informed much of the South Africa Connect policy, or even by the ANC's own communications policy. The former Ministers of Communications weren't consulted. It was based on an uninformed presidential whim.

So, here we are today, charged with debating whether the department's strategic plan is feasible and whether there is enough money in the budget to implement this plan, but the plan before us is yesterday's plan. We are here to vote on the future, but we don't know what that is. We have no idea how much of the budget before us will be diverted elsewhere, to programmes of relocation and integration or to new initiatives. Will programmes go on the back burner or be dropped altogether?

All this uncertainty reflects a turf war between the Ministers involved with these departments, and it's not only over choice of offices and staff.

First of all, we have the Minister of Communications, hon Muthambi, publicly stating all sorts of bizarre things. Leaving aside the SABC for now, she posits a possible merger between the Media Development and Diversity Agency and the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa. Why? For goodness sake, they have different mandates!

Yesterday's presidential proclamation now moves the State Information Technology Agency from the Department of Public Service and Administration into the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services. Why? This is the state's ICT procurement entity. Does this mean that the priority of the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services will now be to act as government's ICT department?

Then there is talk of Broadband Infraco joining the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services from the Department of Public Enterprises. What research or stakeholder engagement is informing these entity grabs?

The confusion over who is responsible for what runs rampant through the publications of the Department of Communications. The strategic plan of the Department of Communications has a foreword by the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services. There's no sign of the Minister of Communications. The foreword of the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services randomly refers interchangeably to the Department of Communications and the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services. So, there is no clarity in the foreword about who reports where.

Perhaps the Department of Communications website was the first indication of where the staff's loyalties lie. Soon after the Cabinet announcement, profiles of the Minister and Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services appeared on the Department of Communications website. There was no sign of the Minister of Communications and her deputy there. But they do get a brief mention on the Government Communication and Information System website.

While this empire building and turf war boil offstage, the ICT sector carries on making the best of an environment historically disadvantaged by muddled policies developed and withdrawn, regulatory ambiguity, inertia and a governing party that doesn't understand it.

It is thanks to the private sector that the benefits of the connected economy are felt by the majority of South Africans. We excel worldwide in ICT product development and service delivery - despite the government, not because of it. Marginalised communities have been introduced to the opportunities of digital empowerment by the massive private sector investment in mobile communication networks. Imagine the power of this energy and enterprise being unleashed in a climate of regulatory and policy certainty with government playing its role as a reliable and robust facilitator of ICT-based ingenuity and endeavour.

But I'm nervous that uninformed decision-making by political leadership will continue to hamper the rightful success of our ICT sector, making it distrustful of government initiatives. For example, much of the delay in the transition to digital terrestrial television is thanks to the fact that a Minister who didn't understand what was at stake decided to explore an alternative technology after the decision was made. There have been subsequent muddles and squabbles, and vested interest pressure groups have taken their toll on the forward momentum of a project that should bring rural entrepreneurs and the communities they serve into the digital family.

The major benefit of moving to digital broadcasting is that the resultant extra spectrum or TV white space offers a great opportunity for the creation of innovative, vibrant and affordable localised internet services countrywide. This means marginalised South Africans will access the modern economy and easily connect to all spheres of government services.

The small, medium and micro enterprises development, entrepreneurial innovation and job creation potential, particularly in smaller towns and villages, is enormous. This is the digital dividend our people so desperately need. If the ANC leadership had understood and driven this aspect of the migration to digital broadcasting, maybe South Africa would be leading developing nations in this emerging technology.

A pilot project that connected 10 Cape Town schools to broadband in the TV white space last year successfully showed that this spectrum can be used without interfering with the quality of neighbouring TV reception, even in densely populated areas. The delivery of broadband was fast, cheap and reliable.

South Africa Connect recognises that linking schools to the Internet will give impetus to drawing rural communities into the digital age, and that the connected hubs that will be their offshoots will facilitate the delivery of e-government, as well as links to economic activities.

The DA government in the Western Cape is breathing life into South Africa Connect. [Interjections.] It has committed to installing broadband connectivity to about 2 000 government offices, schools, libraries and health facilities within the next two years. They will be connected with a speed of 10 megabits per second. There will be 384 Wi-Fi hotspots in government buildings in most wards throughout the province ... [Applause.] ... where citizens can access capped free Wi-Fi.

The plan is to deliver broadband speeds of up to l00 megabits per second to all citizens in the Cape Town metro by 2020 - that's five years away. This is part of the plan to encourage world-class innovators to invest in the city and to make it the base from which they will develop ICT products and services that are internationally competitive and change lives in developed and developing nations. The DA is leading the way with South Africa Connect. [Interjections.]

Hon Minister, please don't let the energy and hope that your predecessor ignited in the sector go to waste. I ask that you give life to your statement that government needs to be radical in its approach if all South Africans are to benefit from universal access to the interconnected world.

Your radical actions must drive with determination the rapid delivery of affordable, fast communications facilities and services to all South Africans in order for them to enjoy the benefits of the digital dividend. Please do not let the vested interests of the politically connected influence how these benefits are rolled out.

You must implement with utmost speed South Africa Connect.

You must meet the analogue broadcasting switch-off deadline and free up the TV white spaces so that rural and marginalised communities can get affordable Internet connections. Please do not let broadcasters stall this to delay the entry of competitive live-streaming services.

You must auction high-demand spectrum to those best able to use it efficiently and affordably so that products and services can be readily accessible to the entire nation.

And, finally, you must regulate the industry with a light hand so as to incentivise the private sector to accelerate investment in and delivery of infrastructure, product innovation and citizen empowerment.

Just make it happen, Minister, and we'll be behind you all the way. [Applause.]