BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Minister of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Savannah Maziya has allayed fears to the nation, regarding the use of old-school mobile phones (bo bhompompo).
Users of such mobile phones have until 2026 to stop using them. This was said by Maziya on Monday (November 11, 2024) when answering questions from Members of Parliament (MPs), who are members of the Portfolio Committee of the Ministry of ICT. The MPs seemed to have thought that the mobile phones would be instantly banned, stating that such a move would bring a lot of inconveniences, especially to members of the public who could not afford smart phones.
In response to the concerns, Maziya said the old-school smart phones were not going to be banned instantly, but the process would happen gradually. The reason for the ban of these phones was because of the fact that the country had to transition from 2G and 3G networks to 4G, 5G, and 6G networks. The minister mentioned that in the meantime, her Ministry would be raising awareness about the ban of the old-school phones.
Meanwhile, the minister further mentioned that her Ministry had a good relationship with the media and she believed that the fourth estate had to be free to report on any matters of public interest, to inform the nation on what was happening. She also said she called upon the Eswatini National Editors Forum to expand and include all media practitioners, so that the representation in this forum could be fair.
Maziya also mentioned that for the media to be free and independent when doing its work, it needed to regulate itself. For the media to regulate itself, the minister said each of the media houses needed to have their ombudsman, which would take care of the complaints voiced by members of the public against the media houses. If the members of the public would not be satisfied with the responses of the media houses, they would approach an appeals tribunal.
The minister said they were yet to set up the tribunal and they were still working with the Editors Forum to set up the body. However, the tribunal would be differentiated to the media sector and the telecommunication sector.