With faith, DTT roll-out is now a reality

With faith, DTT roll-out is now a reality

Nthambeleni Gabara

South Africans love Communications Minister Faith Muthambi not because she’s friendly, but because she is a woman leader, who is making a breakthrough to deliver the much awaited digital migration project.
After many years of waiting and deliberate delays, today as a nation, we can proudly say…digital migration is upon us! Writes Nthambeleni Gabara.
A fortnight ago, Minister Muthambi announced that the poor TV-owning households in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) communities of Keimoes and Kai Garib, in Northern Cape will be the first to experience Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in our country.
“The SKA area in the Northern Cape was identified as the place where (DTT) will start, and we need to conclude the migration from analogue to digital here in this province before 1 January 2016.
“This is the first registration process for TV-owning households since the DTT policy was gazetted by Parliament on 18 March 2015.
“Households in the districts that form part of the SKA radio telescope must visit their local post office from today to apply for a subsidised Set Top Boxes (STB),” she said.
Muthambi was in the area to officially launch the registration process for STBs.  While government will distribute five million poor TV-owning households with free STBs, the Minister said in the SKA area alone, government will distribute 16 000 STBs for free.
While this is a critical milestone for digital migration, as South Africans, we should swallow our pride and give credit where it is due. Remember, we are no longer on the list of non-starter countries on digital migration. Through the visionary leadership of Minister Muthambi, we all able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Minister Muthambi, an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa, proved to everyone that it is not all debutants who often have a slow start in order to familiarise themselves with their new portfolios.
Realising that the country will not meet the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) June 17 deadline, Minister Muthambi never folded her arms regarding the process.
The Minister and her team, worked tirelessly to ensure that South Africans including those in the border-lying areas are still able to watch free to air television channels without any interference beyond the June 17 deadline.
This was done through a process of signing agreements of co-operation with Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique and Namibia with the view of avoiding possible television signal interference threat from outside South Africa's borders.
Despite all these achievements, it was not easy for Muthambi. When she tried to revive the DTT project back on track, once again, the project was nearly stalled by court processes.
However, all that is now history and South Africa is no longer on the list of those countries that have not yet started the digital migration processes.
Asked where she gets all the energy to accelerate service delivery to change the lives of South Africans, Muthambi said she is inspired by the wise words of former President Nelson Mandela: “It always seem impossible until it’s done.”
“I don’t want to report failure to South Africans and I don’t want South Africans to remember me as one of the leaders who failed the ANC led government. My feet are always moving forward. Even in the darkest moments in life, I don’t despair. To my fellow South Africans, I’m appealing to all of you to work together with government as we finally roll-out the DTT project,” she said.
DTT Awareness campaign
Today, the majority of South Africans in the deep rural areas knows that digital migration involves shifting broadcasters from analogue to digital signals, and the process is key for opening up more frequencies and faster mobile broadband services.
In the past few months, Muthambi and her team have been visiting the deep rural areas across the country to educate people about digital migration.
Chief Ntamonde Mthetho Machi from a small town outside of Harding in KwaZulu-Natal had this to say after the DTT awareness campaign which was recently in his area: “In the past, I’ve heard people talking about digital migration, but today’s digital migration Imbizo provided me with clear and relevant information about it.
“Now all of us know that the face of broadcasting is going to change very soon in our country. I really appreciate the leadership of the Minister who values the importance of consulting people before implementing a project. The secret of a successful project is consultation.”
 The nation is already feeling the digital migration fever!

–Nthambeleni Gabara is a journalist working for the South African Government online news agency: SAnews.