Righteous anger

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 20 January 2007

This is how one can describe the ad campaign launched by TAG (Telecommunications Action Group) with a full-page ad in the Mail&Guardian newspaper on Friday (19/01/2007).

We’re sure ADSL users and other telephony consumers in South Africa have welcomed TAG’s initiative that calls for a reform in the telecoms sector. Telkom is  clearly identified in the ad as being the main perpetrator taking into consideration ‘a staggering R9.3 billion in pure profit’ recorded last year ‘while South Africans continued to pay some of the highest prices for telephony services in the world’ (Consumers speak out for Telecoms change, TAG, 19 January 2007). Telkom has also ‘laid off over 35 000 staff over the past seven years’ (Consumers speak out for Telecoms change, TAG, 19 January 2007). This will come as no surprise to many but there are still a lot of consumers out there that need to see reality for what it is. ADSL South Africa believes that only then we shall be able to make the kind of difference that’s needed to start a telecoms revolution in South Africa.

Decent South Africans need to wake up because the fat cats at Telkom aren’t going to sing…

You don’t have a friend in Telkom
we think that you’re actually very dom (stupid)
and that you’re busy sniffing too much gom (glue)

you are too kind
for letting us rob you blind…

Just imagine the thousands of families that suffer because of Telkom’s conduct, including the families of the 35 000 members of staff they laid off…

It can never be easy for anyone to lose a job no matter what the reason. What makes it worse though is when you know it’s because the greedy pigs don’t know when to stop. They want to bathe in profits that would make the public baths of ancient Rome looks like something out of the Stone Age. The fat cats want to have a party, while you have to sweet blood to get something on the table and even then they try to steal that opportunity from you…

Imagine the thousands of children that could receive a better education… the thousands of small businesses that would pull in healthy profits… and all the other benefits one would see if they even pretended to be decent. Well, now you know why they have a shortage of workers and why their service deliverance sucks.

The ad also stressed the fact that government has its finger in 38% of the Telkom pie. This is why government will do nothing but be an idle bystander while they ‘rape’ you from dusk till dawn and beyond…

This is why decent South Africans should not depend on the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa ) to make any positive difference: ‘Their central role is to regulate telecommunications in the public interest. So how come they're not barking noisily and waking up the country about the fact that South Africans pay five times as much for a local call now than they did in 1996? Or that internet access in South Africa is among the most expensive in the world (in fact, you'll pay less for broadband in Morocco, Egypt, Botswana, and Mozambique)? Or that Telkom is only too happy to pay a R15 million fine for failing to deliver basic services where "it was not economical to do so" (Hold the phone, could that be your area they were talking about?)’ (Consumers speak out for Telecoms change, TAG, 19 January 2007).

According to TAG’s co-founder, Alastair Otter: "It's clear that we've gained very little as telecoms consumers by letting the minister of communications and the regulator, ICASA, fiddle for 10 years. It's time for action," says TAG co-founder Alastair Otter (Consumers speak out for Telecoms change, TAG, 19 January 2007).

ADSL South Africa(Broadband South Africa) welcomes TAG’s initiative and ask all ADSL users and consumers in South Africa to help spread the message as far and wide as possible.