Democratic Alliance political party reveals ANC party is branding digital terrestrial TV set-top box messages as election marketing; says communications minister lied about new mid-2019 deadline from the ITU to complete digital migration.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) political party wants to know why a logo from the ANC political party and ANC election messaging is appearing on pamphlets encouraging South African to collect free, government-sponsored set-top boxes (STBs) - the decoders people need to watch digital terrestrial television (DTT) as part of the South African government's botched and long deyaled digital migration process from analogue to digital TV.

The DA's member of parliament, Marian Shinn and the party's shadow minister of telecommunications and postal services, on Sunday in a statement said the pamphlets "is a blatant abuse of taxpayers' money and must be stopped".

She also revealed that the department of communications' latest new deadline of June 2019, apparently instituted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) after South Africa missed all of the other previous deadlines including the 17 June 2015 deadline, is apparently bogus.

"The minister of communications now claims that a new deadline of mid-2019 has been agreed to with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a date that coincides with South Africa's next general election".

"Correspondence I have had with the ITU office in Geneva, shows that there is no 2019 deadline for South Africa," said Marian Shinn.

"A parliamentary question I submitted to the minister asking documentary proof of the 'new' deadline has not been answered," said Marian Shinn.

Marian Shinn says she has written to communications minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, the cabinet leader of the Broadcasting DigitalMigration (BDM) project of which the DTT set-top boxes are a component - and responsible for its marketing "to put an immediate stop to the flyers' distribution and have them destroyed".

"I have also written to the ANC National Executive Committee member, Dr Siyabonga Cwele, minister of telecommunications and postal services, who is responsible for the government entities procuring and distributing the decoders to demand an investigation within the ANC to determine who instigated the abuse of a government-funded project under his watch for election purposes and to hold these people to account."

STBs are currently being given out to poor South African households who have to prove that they're earning less than R3200 per month.

The much-delayed digital migration project aims to bring all broadcasting in South Africa from analogue to digital, freeing up spectrum bands to be used by mobile broadband products and services.

Various misguided political decisions, as suspicions over MultiChoice's alleged undue influence on the government's policy regarding conditional access (encryption) of the government-sponsored decoders, as well as drawn-out in-fighting and court battles between MultiChoice and e.tv, as well as other broadcasters and manufacturers, have delayed South Africa's DTT process for a decade.

Democratic Alliance once again calls on Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to urgently investigate SA's botched digital TV switch and bungled set-top box tenders 'marred by irregularity and corruption'.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) political party is once again calling for an urgent investigation into South Africa's controversial procurement process of the government-sponsored set-top boxes (STBs) needed for the government's long-delayed and botched switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT),a process known as digital migration.

The Democratic Alliance member of parliament, Marian Shinn, says South Africa's Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, can no longer ignore the urgent need for a wide-ranging probe into the STB mess.

The renewed call comes as even MultiChoice, providing the DStv satellite pay-TV service, is now being dragged into South Africa's DTT mess.

Marian Shinn says in a statement that the DA party has once again written to the Public Protector to ask that the Public Protector's office proceed with the investigation as South Africa's switch to DTT from analogue broadcasting - something that is years behind schedule - "is marred by irregularity and corruption, which needs to be urgently investigated".

The DA says its initial request to the Public Protector, acknowledged on 8 August 2017, was for her office to probe the procurement process for the government-subsidised set-top boxes,to investigate alleged tender irregularities and possible unlawful decision-making, and to determine whether the digital migration process needs to be "cancelled and rerun".

"Three months later and there seems to be little to no process," says Marian Shinn.

"This past week the #GuptaLeaks revealed how Tony Gupta acted as a channel between MultiChoice - a key protagonist in the set-top box encryption battle - and former minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, to change the digital terrestrial broadcasting policy in MultiChoice's favour, which she did."

"Today is has come to light that the Haws raided 13 of the 26 firms involved in the STB tender, following a 10-month investigation by the Competition Commission into collusion in the process."

"These revelations, in conjunction with the PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) investigation into the process, clearly indicate serious procurement irregularities or criminal acts had been commited and must be acted upon," says Marian Shinn.

"Repeated requests to the chairpersons of the communications and telecommunications and postal services portfolio committees to hold 2-day hearings into the entire digital terrestrial broadcasting process have also failed to materialise, despite being included in the committee programmes of each term this year," says Marian Shinn.

ANC: 'The SABC and MultiChoice deal is not in the best interest of the people of South Africa', keeps SABC 'a junior broadcaster to pay TV'.

The ANC is upset with its minister of communications Faith Muthambi and will meet with her today as the ruling political party in South Africa is now hugely concerned about about the highly controversial channels deal signed between MultiChoice and the SABC, saying "the SABC and MultiChoice deal is not in the best interest of the people of South Africa".

The ANC says the controversial deal forces the SABC to remain "a junior broadcaster".

The ANC also wants answers from Faith Muthambi and is hugely concerned about the minister's abrupt policy about-turn of non-encryption for the SABC in the looming switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) in the country, saying the bad decision by Faith Muthambi will force the SABC to remain "a junior broadcaster to pay television" in South Africa.

On Monday night Jackson Mthembu, ANC National executive committee member and spokesperson, appeared on Justice Malala's The Justice Factor on eNCA (DStv 403), saying the ANC wants answers from Faith Muthambi on the controversial deal between MultiChoice and the SABC.

In the deal worth hundreds of millions of rand, MultiChoice pays the SABC to provide the SABC News (DStv 404) channel, now running just in English on DStv and no longer including other indigenous South African languages, as well as exclusive access to the SABC's archives for the library rerun channel SABC Encore (DStv 156) with old SABC shows.

The controversial MultiChoice and SABC deal is currently before the Competition Commission's tribunal, in a case brought by the public pressure group SOS Coalition, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and the media group Caxton arguing that the mega-millions deal between the public broadcaster and the pay-TV behemoth constitutes a merger.

"Why did the SABC agree on non-encryption in set-top boxes (STBs) for digital terrestrial television (DTT) with MultiChoice?" asked Jackson Mthembu on The Justice Factor.

"There's this agreement that is sitting between MultiChoice and the SABC. That agreement I can tell you is not in the best interest of the SABC itself."

"Because then the SABC will not have premium content, will not be able to compete at the same level with MultiChoice. Therefore the SABC will be a junior broadcaster to pay television. And I think that's not in the best interest of the people of South Africa. We don't," said Jackson Mthembu.

Although the embattled Faith Muthambi denied in a hastily released statement last week that it was discussed, Jackson Mthembu reiterated Monday night on eNCA that encryption of set-top boxes (STBs) was discussed and "extensively" at the recent ANC's NGC as well as the issue of digital TV migration.

"Definitely. It was discussed extensively," said Jackson Mthembu. He repeated that "equally the difficulties and challenges that the SABC is faced with" was also discussed.

Jackson Mthembu said earlier that the ANC had not been consulted by Faith Muthambi on the non-encryption aspect of the digital migration policy.

"If you don't have the instruments to assist you to protect those [content] rights, you won't get those broadcasting rights. You won't get wonderful films from Hollywood, you won't get wonderful rights to air sports. Therefore you will be a junior broadcaster to those that are able to protect their content," said Jackson Mthembu on Monday night.

"The government has been pursuing encryption [for free-to-air digital television signals] for some time, including the 2013 policy that government itself took," said Jackson Mthembu.

"After elaborate consultation with the industry where MultiChoice, e.tv and the SABC were consulted, those consultations concluded with a policy that said as government, on all those set-top boxes that we are going to subsidise, they will be encrypted. No question about it."

Also on Monday night Marian Shinn, the Democratic Alliance (DA) member of parliament tasked with telecommunications, appeared on Insig on kykNET (DStv 144) to discuss the same topic of the beleaguered Faith Muthambi and the ongoing quagmire of the South African government's acute and embarrassing failure with digital TV migration, calling it "a cesspit of intrigue and incompetence".

Parliament blasts SABC: 'Everything at the SABC remains a permament drama, like a drama that comes on the SABC at 8 o' clock every night'.

Parliament on Friday blasted the SABC as furious members of parliament's portfolio committee on communications took turns to lash out at the South African public broadcaster.

Even the new minister of communications, as well as the portfolio committee's chairperson didn't hold back - respectively describing the SABC as "plagued by a myriad of problems" and that "the SABC remains dysfunctional", as well as saying that "there's a dark cloud hanging over the SABC".

A lot of their outrage was directed at the SABC's controversial and famously matricless acting chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng (pictured above).

The member of parliament Mbuyiseni Ndlozi from the EFF party, said that "Hlaudi Motsoeneng, that the Public Protector's report has had to speak about - which we are waiting to hear when is he getting fired - wakes up in the morning and says that we must license journalists. Running an institution that is supposed to be engaged in journalism, that is supposed to be reporting the news".

"He's supposed to be the number one defender of the SABC of the freedom of expression, of the freedom of the media".

"I find it very hard that we can entrust the SABC to walk out of the crisis it's been in since 2007 when the SABC leadership doesn't take these issues seriously. When is Hlaudi Motsoeneng getting fired? When?" asked Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

"Everything at the SABC remains a permanent drama, like a drama that comes on the SABC at 8 o' clock every night".

"Get leadership stability, improvement of TV channels. The most important questions that will restore legitimacy for the public is to respond to the leadership questions and the Public Protector's report on Hlaudi Motsoeneng," said Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

"What is preventing the SABC from suspending Hlaudi Motsoeneng? Surely he cannot continue at this organisation?" asked Gavin Davis, from the DA political party.

"The SABC remains in a perpetual crisis, it's losing market share, it's losing audiences, it's losing money from advertisers going elsewhere. There's needs to be an injection of talent to make the SABC a viable institution," said Marian Shinn, from the DA political party.

"Your own SABC commissioned marketing research shows that your losing market share and credibility, particularly with SABC News. No-one trusts the SABC news".

"The SABC is looking for customers of the SABC's archives. Well, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, last year you gave away the SABC archives to MultiChoice. They have the rights to your archives - not part of it, all of it. The contract says 'the archive'. So what on earth have you got left to sell to anybody else?"

"Last year I asked who is going to pay for the digitisation of the SABC archive materialso that MultiChoice could use it to launch their 24-hour SABC entertainment channel."

"The answer came back that the money - just over R300 for the entertainment side of the MultiChoice SABC deal would be used to digitise the material. Is that being done? Why has the SABC entertainment TV channel not gone live? It should have gone live in November 2013 and there's no sign of it," said Marian Shinn.

Joyce Moloi-Moropa, chairperson of the portfolio committee on communications said: "There is a dark cloud hanging over the SABC. Everytime everyone talks SABC that cloud hangs on top there. It is upon the SABC itself to clear that cloud".

"If the SABC doesn't take it upon itself to remove that cloud, surely it will remain a cloud that will be permanently over it. We do need a very credible SABC in the country. We appeal to the SABC to undergo a self-cleansing process whereby it becomes credible".

Faith Muthambi, South Africa's new minister of communications said "the SABC has been plagued by a myriad of problems in the past and currently" and that "the SABC remains dysfunctional and requires urgent attention from me".