SACP welcomes the stance by President Cyril Ramaphosa against “trade war”, calls for a digital industrial strategy and lowering of the cost of data

1 July 2019   

The South African Communist Party welcomes the stance by President Cyril Ramaphosa against “trade war”. In particular the United States under the Donald Trump administration recently escalated its offensive, aimed at maintaining its global imperialist hegemony, against non-U.S. companies such as Huawei that have taken a lead in certain segments of advanced technology.

The blockade launched by the Trump administration on Huawei for instance has much wider implications and consequences, and South Africa is not an exception. As stated by our Presidential Spokesperson, Khusela Diko, “Huawei provides a strong backbone to our telecommunication sector and is the frontrunner in 5G network” (quoted in the Sunday Times, Sunday, 30 June 2019).  

The steps taken to remove the U.S. blockade on Huawei are therefore important in view of 5G infrastructure development and maintenance in South Africa, on our continent and other parts of the world.

In conclusion, the SACP calls on our government to develop a digital industrial policy strategy, and on all network providers in South Africa to lower the cost of data. To the extent there is continuing little or no progress in lowering the cost of data, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) must strengthen its regulatory efforts to make data affordable in our country.  

Issued by Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, National Spokesperson & Head of Communications, SACP, 1 July 2019