ANC sets government new digital migration deadline
After numerous delays, the African National Congress (ANC) has given government a new deadline to migrate from analogue to digital television, saying there will be no further extensions
The ANC’s national conference has given government until June 2019 to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting, warning there will be no further extensions.
“They said we are now ordering you to migrate,” chairperson of the sub committee on communications and the battle of ideas Jackson Mthembu told reporters on Wednesday night.
The ANC initially hoped to complete the migration by the mid-2015 deadline.
Mthembu said government indicated it would be able to migrate by the end of 2018, but he says they engaged with government to decide on a final timeline.
“Having spoken to government, having spoken to the relevant department and other stakeholders conference has directed government that the latest time that they give to government to migrate, fully, not partially, from analogue to digital, is June 2019,” Mthembu says describing migration as a matter that has bedevilled the party for some time."
Mthembu said the more than two year delay in implementing the instruction from the party has resulted in a damage in the party’s reputation.
Amid the delays, it remains to be seen whether government will be able to meet the deadline as delegates have highlighted the governing party’s perceived inability to implement its own policies.
“More than anything else, this policy (sic) conference has said all our deployees must implement, implement, implement ANC decisions,” Mthembu concluded.