The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is currently in a dire situation as the Minister of Communications Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has refused to approve its Annual Performance Plan (APP). The approval is needed for the regulator to receive tranches of its R450m annual budget.
The telecommunications regulator has reportedly instructed its attorneys to launch legal action to force the Department of Communications (DoC) to release funding allocated to it by Parliament. It accuses Ndabeni- Abrahams of meddling in its work and withholding funding, reported Business Live.
Keabetswe Modimoeng, the acting chairperson of ICASA, held a media briefing on Monday at the regulator’s headquarters in Centurion to report media about the situation.
Modimoeng confirmed that there was a dispute and said ICASA has not received the first tranche of its annual budget, worth over R100-million, out of its total annual budget of R450-million. He said the authority’s council notes with serious concern that the DOC has unlawfully withheld the authority’s first tranche payment even though National Treasury has already released the budget allocation for the 2019/20 financial year as approved by Parliament.
“ICASA’s first tranche payment has been unlawfully withheld,” Modimoeng said, adding that tranches are transferred within the first month of each quarter.
Modimoeng said Icasa has instructed its attorneys to file an urgent application against the minister in the high court in Pretoria, seeking the court to instruct Ndabeni-Abrahams to make an urgent payment to the regulator.
“The situation is dire,” Modimoeng said. “It was not our intention to go to the courts. That’s not how we want to engage with our stakeholders, but we have been left with no other option.”
Failing to get the budget money, he warned that the authority won’t be able to pay its suppliers or employees and its operations could come to a halt.
