Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has signed her performance agreement with President Cyril Ramaphosa promising to cut data prices by 50%.
“As stated in the State of the Nation Address on 13 February 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed performance agreements with all Ministers to strengthen the capacity of the State and increase accountability,
“These agreements – which are based on the targets contained in the Medium-Term Strategic Framework – will be made public so that the people of South Africa can hold those who they elected into office to account.
The agreement between Ndabeni-Abrahams and President Ramaphosa was signed on 23 October 2020 and has now been made public.
Ramaphosa said that Ndabeni-Abrahams must reduce the current cost of data by 50%. The agreement did not specify when the minister must achieve this.
She must also ensure that South Africa is in the top 10 in Africa for the price of 1GB data pricing by 2024.
The agreement with Ramaphosa also states that Ndabeni-Abrahams must engage National Treasury and DTIC on financial and non-financial incentives for the industry to increase fibre rollout.
The agreement further states that the minister must amend the Electronic Communications Act to address issues of competition.
Furthermore, Ndabeni-Abrahams must develop a digital masterplan by December 2020. The plan must include the repositioning of SITA to drive and use local technologies in government and society generally.
The minister must also ensure that irregular expenditure is reduced by 100% by 2024, and the minister must enforce consequences for corruption and misconduct.
Monitor and ensure ICASA, industry’s watchdog, is adequately resourced to licence 4G spectrum, is one of the deliverables for the minister.
Finally, Ndabeni-Abrahams must ensure issuing of a policy directive for 5G by December 2021 and ensuring that 80% of the population have access to the Internet by 2024.
