Communications minister to push for set-top encryption

Communications Minister Ayanda Dlodlo has backed the encryption of set-top boxes, effectively dumping predecessor Faith Muthambi’s policy of supporting nonencryption. Muthambi’s stance angered the ANC and its allies, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Cosatu, because it was in defiance of the ruling party’s policy. This standoff delayed SA’s plans to migrate from analogue to digital. The position Muthambi, now public service and administration minister, took on nonecryption was supported by pay-TV company MultiChoice. Dlodlo has reportedly said encryption is part of ANC policy. She was quoted on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Durban as saying: "I’m not going to change … ANC policy [until] … the party conference in December." Her spokeswoman, Phumla Williams, was yet to provide further details by the time of publishing on Monday.

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