Parliament, Tuesday, 10 June 2025 – The Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies has called for collaboration between the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT), Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) as well as non-ICT Entities that rely on broadband infrastructure to deliver services.
The committee was briefed on the establishment of a State Digital Infrastructure Company (SDIC), Smart City Framework and fibre infrastructure rollout by the DCDT, COGTA, ESKOM, Transnet, Passenger Rail Agency South Africa (PRASA) and the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) respectively.
All presentations pointed to the urgent need for the establishment of SDIC as a wholesale provider of broadband infrastructure, considering that state entities work in isolation, and, in some instances, partners with the private sector at a huge cost to achieve a common goal of the National Development Plan (NDP).
The NDP identified ICT as a critical enabler of economic activity in an increasingly networked world and called for a single national e-strategy that cuts across government departments and the application of open-access policies to encourage the sharing of certain elements of the backbone fibre network.
The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Khusela Sangoni Diko, said that the DCDT, COGTA and Entities under transport and energy portfolios need to work together to leverage on the strength that they each possess to deliver the universal meaningful access to all South Africans.
She said: “Currently we have a challenge of duplication where entities run parallel projects on the ground with a massive financial constraint to the national fiscus and that shows a lack of joint planning.”
Ms Diko added that the committee will deliberate further on all presentations and communicate the recommendations in writing to the ministers responsible for state digital infrastructure-owning entities.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, MS KHUSELA SANGONI DIKO.
For media inquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Justice Molafo (Mr)
Cell: 081 424 7481
E-mail: jmolafo@parliament.gov.za
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