ANC rebukes ‘unmandated’ Muthambi
COMMUNICATIONS Minister Faith Muthambi has come under strong fire from the ANC over her “unmandated” comments on the ANC national general council’s (NGC’s) criticism of the digital migration project, and instability at the SABC.
The party has slammed Muthambi for effectively calling ANC communications subcommittee chairman Jackson Mthembu a liar.
In a statement she issued yesterday, Muthambi disputed Mthembu’s comments that the ANC was unhappy about the country missing the digital migration deadlines, and instability at the public broadcaster, claiming these were not discussed at the council.
But the ANC has hit back hard, saying her comments are full of inaccuracies, and that these were discussed extensively at the party’s midterm assessment meeting.
“It is unfortunate that in her statement there are a number of inaccuracies relating to matters discussed by the Communications Commission, and subsequently adopted by the council.
“We want to place on record that the issues of digital migration and SABC were discussed extensively by the commission, which resulted in the decisions that were taken,” said ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa last night.
Kodwa said the party, having noted the “unfortunate failure by South Africa to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting, and the terrible instability at the SABC”, would schedule an urgent meeting between the ministers of post and telecommunications and communication, and the national executive council’s (NEC’s) subcommittee for communication.
“We want to assert that the responsibility to communicate ANC NEC conference, NGC and other decisions reside with the secretary-general of the ANC, spokesperson of the ANC and chairpersons of ANC NEC subcommittees.
“It is unfortunate that minister Muthambi, despite this reality, opted again to speak on ANC decisions unmandated, and in the process she unfortunately accused the chairperson of the subcommittee of being a liar.”
Independent Media reported this weekend how the ANC was losing patience with Muthambi over what Mthembu called the flip-flopping on digital migration, and the controversial deal between the SABC and Multichoice.
It was seen as giving Multichoice a monopoly in the payTV space.
The deal, which has seen the SABC make all its archives exclusively available to Multichoice, has been referred to the Competition Commission by the media group Caxton.
Mthembu said there had been “no transparency” around the deal, and the ANC would demand that Muthambi’s department account to the ruling party on major policy matters.
The ANC is also unhappy about Muthambi’s ratification of a digital migration policy that does away with settop box encryption, which threatens to derail the state’s ability to roll out critical e-government services to local households.
“All of us are very embarrassed that we couldn’t meet the DTT (digital terrestrial television) migration deadline in June,” Mthembu told journalists this weekend.
These comments were rued by Muthambi yesterday.
“It is unfortunate that certain individuals are now determined to try and find fault with the policy that was approved by the government,” she said.
“It is imperative for the subcommittee chairman, Jackson Mthembu, to clarify that when he spoke… he was expressing his own personal views.”
Muthambi disputed Mthembu’s communication of the council’s discussions and resolutions.
The public fight over Muthambi’s handling of digital migration and the SABC, where she has been a staunch backer of controversial boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng, has put her firmly against the ANC’s leadership.