Towards an alternative vision of telecommunications: The Economic Freedom Fighters and the South African Communist Party

The appearance of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in South Africa and the appointment of a member of politburo of the South African Communist Party (SACP) as minister of communications raise the question of what a radical telecommunications policy might be. With the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Council for Mutual Economic assistance (COMECON) system and the gradual marketisation of the Chinese economy, there are very few operational models of a Marxist-Leninist telecommunications policy. Theorists appear to have ignored telecommunications in favour of media and other sectors, leaving a gap that grows wider as the Internet is embedded daily more deeply into industrial production and social activities. Taking operators into state ownership is a reflexive response, but presents management challenges, though it would remedy the very odd ownership structure in South Africa and address network construction in rural and remote areas. The Chinese model of competing state-owned operators, though frighteningly successful, would be difficult to reproduce.