Government has backtracked on plans to have communications regulator Icasa report to the newly created department of communications, which also houses the SABC, Brand South Africa and other entities, a highly placed source with knowledge of the development has told TechCentral. Instead
Traditional Venda chiefs have given SABC acting chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng a wife, a cow and a calf, the Sowetan reported on Friday. Women were lined up in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, on Wednesday for Motsoeneng to choose one. He and other SABC executives were
Mmamoloko Kubayi has been named as the new chair of parliament’s portfolio committee on telecommunications and postal services. The position was effectively held previously by Eric Kholwane. The communications portfolio committee, which now looks after the SABC and communications regulator
Newly appointed Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane has appointed Marian Shinn as the party’s spokesman on telecommunications and postal services. Shinn had been shadow communications minister before President Jacob Zuma split the
What was the president thinking? Last Sunday, Jacob Zuma sent shockwaves through South Africa’s technology industry by dumping his hardworking communications minister, Yunus Carrim – arguably the most competent person to fill the portfolio since the 1990s – and splitting the ministry in
The SOS Coalition, which represents trade unions, community media and content producers hoping to support quality public broadcasting in South Africa, has slammed President Jacob Zuma’s decision to dump his communications minister, Yunus Carrim, instead creating two new departments headed by two new ministers. The Coalition has accused Zuma of
SABC acting chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng is waiting to hear from his employers regarding a damning report by public protector Thuli Madonsela, his lawyer said on Monday. “We are still waiting to hear from the SABC. I spoke to Hlaudi yesterday [Sunday]. He has not heard from the board either,” said Motsoeneng’s lawyer Zola Majavu. In a report
The whispers that started weeks ago were wrong, as they so often are: presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj will not be the minister for propaganda after all. But what President Jacob Zuma did announce on Sunday still has all the makings of a ministry for information, replete with overtones of spin and advocacy, but headed by the relatively unknown
A lot of people think Gareth Cliff is an idiot. I’m not talking about his usual detractors — mother grundies and religious nuts. I’m talking about many of his 2m fans, the listeners of the breakfast show he used to host on 5FM. Why on earth would he leave such a job to start an Internet radio station? Their argument makes sense, at least
In a development that is likely to send shockwaves through South Africa’s information and communications technology (ICT) industry, President Jacob Zuma has replaced his hard-working communications minister, Yunus Carrim, with Siyabonga Cwele, formerly the minister of state security
