The Telecommunications Amendment Bill is currently being debated before the Portfolio Committee on Communication. The majority of the bill focuses specifically on telecommunications and the issuing of licences. (Many of the issues it raises have been discussed in the media and addressed by industry players.) The Bill also deals with, “further provision for certain functions of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, [and] the repeal of a particular law and the amendment of two others” (Telecommunications Amendment Bill). The implications of the latter strike at the heart of the independence of ICASA and serve to highlight some of the contradictions endemic to ICASA.

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