Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has established a joint oversight forum to ensure a smooth merger process of the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services and the Department of Communications.

The formation of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) was mandated by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 and established in 2019.

The Presidential Proclamations in Government Gazette dated August 14, 2019, confirmed the transfer of administration, powers and functions to the Minister of Communications, initially functioning with a start-up organisational structure until the revised organisational structure is finalised, approved and implemented.

“If we are to implement the President’s call, we have to tamper with the structure of the department that we have, including the 11 entities under its portfolio,” says Ndabeni-Abrahams of the newly reconfigured department to coordinate and lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The new oversight project management office (PMO), which will be chaired by the Minister’s office, is responsible for the smooth implementation of the long-awaited merger.

The director-general will be the secretariat of the PMO, which will also comprise the chairpersons, CEOs and CFOs of the entities of the impacted institutions, along with a number of selected board members.

The department has 11 entities under its portfolio, with renewed focus on embattled parastatals, the South African Post Office, the South African Broadcasting Commission and the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (Usaasa).

The business case of the Broadband Infraco and Sentech merger as a digital State infrastructure company has been finalised, with Cabinet and Parliamentary processes and approval pending, while the business case of the restructure of Usaasa and the Universal Service and Access Fund as a digital development challenge fund is nearing completion, with consultations with National Treasury ongoing.

In addition, the process of corporatising the Post Bank as it is unbundled from the Post Office is currently at Cabinet level.

Further, in an effort to drive digital transformation, the DCDT is establishing a digital services agency, for which the State Information Technology Agency (Sita) has been earmarked for. The department is working with Sita to make sure legislation finds expression and amended.