Pretoria - When the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) finally relocates its head office, it will not be moving to a newly built office, says Communications Minister Faith Muthambi.
“In this financial year, working with the regulator, we aim to finalise and bring about stability to the issue of head office relocation for ICASA,” said the Minister on Tuesday.
She was tabling the strategic plan of her departments and entities for 2016/17/18/19/20 to Parliament’s Committee on Communications.
With regards to the establishment of ICASA offices in provinces, the Minister said they would observe the austerity measures announced by the President. “… We hope to use existing provincial government buildings where possible.”
Currently, the head office of the country’s communications regulator is in Johannesburg.
Ban on alcohol advertising
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is one of the entities the Minister has oversight on. She said she has instructed the SABC Board to quantify the financial impact that a ban on alcohol advertising would have on the public broadcaster’s revenue.
In 2013, Cabinet approved that a draft bill banning alcohol advertising be gazetted for public comment.
The Minister said AdEx, which monitors ad spend, calculates that nearly R400 million is spent on alcohol-related corporate social investment, sponsorships, competitions and promotions.
Minister Muthambi said if the total ban of alcohol advertising is legislated, this would be one of the biggest risks to the SABC's revenue.
“It's a significant part of the SABC advertising revenue, so such a ban would see the SABC lose about 8.5% of its advertising income.
“The ban will also have implications for all media or the entire portfolio of the department. Research indicates that of the R17 billion spent on advertising in 2012, about 10% could probably be directly attributed to alcohol advertising in the mass media…” she said. - SAnews.gov.za
