Demand the Right to Communicate: Vula ‘ma Connexion
Our right to know will remain incomplete if our struggle is limited to securing access to information alone. We must struggle to ensure that information flows across society and that information forms the basis of a social dialogue that deepens our democracy and advances social, economic, and environmental justice. Our right to communicate – to receive and impart information and opinions – is central to our right to know.
The Right2Know has launched Vula ‘ma connexion – a campaign for the right to communicate:
Did you know that…
• The right to communicate is a basic human right. Section 16.1b of our Bill of Rights gives everyone the freedom to receive or impart information or ideas;
• For many people our rights only exist on paper, but 82,9% of South Africans have cellphones that could make our right to communicate real;
• SA has the 6th highest mobile phone charges in the world. Profiteering by the cellphone companies makes communication expensive for the majority of people;
• The cost of sms is about 2.6c, so companies are making up to 3000% of profit on a sms;
• Prepaid users are often charged more than contract users, thus deepening inequality in SA;
• Cellphone services have been privatised. The market is dominated by MTN and Vodacom, and they set the terms of trade for the rest of the industry;
• The Consumer Protection Act says that prepaid vouchers must be valid for 3 years. However, many cellphone users loose money each month because their airtime, sms, and data bundles expire after one or two months;
• There is no transparency in the cost of communications, and it is nearly impossible to compare prices of different packages across networks;
• The interconnection rates, rates that a cellphone network charges another network to terminate its calls on that network, are excessively high and benefit the domination by MTN and VODACOM;
• The responsibility of ICASA (Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) is to regulate telecommunications, but it is weak, lacks independence, _and is underfunded.
We Demand our Right to Communicate:
• Communications must be universal. Everyone has a right to communications that are available and affordable;
• Everyone should get a free basic amount of airtime and data in the same way that_we have free basic water and electricity;
• All SMS’s should be free as they cost the operators almost nothing to transmit;
• ICASA must regulate the cost of airtime and data to stop profiteering;
• Pre-paid communication users should not cross subsidise post-paid users;
• Sms and data bundles should not expire if they are unused;
• Cellphone companies must improve the quality of service, including network outages, dropped calls, calls that don’t connect, and data coverage, etc;
• The range of numbers that are free to call (like police and ambulance) should be increased to include our children’s schools, hospitals, etc;
• Parliament must ensure a efficient and well funded regulator.
