The Media Workers Association of South Africa (MWASA) has issued the following statement welcoming the appointment of Dina Pule and Stella Ndabeni as the new Minister and Deputy Minister of Communications respectively.
The statement reads: We are enamoured by their reputations as strong, decisive and focused managers in their own right. The communications sector and in particular the portfolio organisations of the Ministry certainly need urgent and cogent attention if they are to play meaningful roles in the development of the country given the challenges and changes in the global environment.
MWASA looks forward to a new chapter in the consolidation and further development of the work that lies ahead for this very critical and important Ministry as well as the redefining role of the sector in deepening of our nascent democracy, improvement of universal access and economic inclusion of the majority of the peoples of South Africa, of the continent and of the world.
MWASA has clearly expressed concerns regarding the challenges plaguing organisations like ICASA, SENTECH and SABC. We firmly believe that the decisiveness demonstrated by President Jacob Zuma in his re-shuffling of Cabinet and his action against errant public officials will permeate throughout our public and private business spheres. South Africans deserve better than the seamless and recurrent shameful and embarrassing antics at the SABC.
Our call for the SABC to be placed under administration remains firm as the alternative is too ghastly to further contemplate. Our concern is the looting and total collapse of governance and management systems that are leading to frequent breaches and calcifying impunity. If we do not arrest this there will be no SABC to speak of.
We would encourage the Ministry to move with speed and sure-footedness in all areas that fall within the competency and ambit of the sector. A national summit to rally the nation behind a common vision would be an enormous boost given the rate and speed of developments in the ICT sector and the negative and debilitating impact of the levels of exclusion of the majority of our people in terms of the so-called information divide.
We are convinced that what is required is leadership and MWASA will gladly work with all progressive decisions and formations in favour of the development of inclusive strategies to maximise the impact of the communications sector in the lives of our people.
