ADSL on its last legs in South Africa

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  By   Daniel Puchert Partially state-owned telecommunications company Telkom announced in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025 that its ADSL subscribers had more than halved to under 30,000. According to the company’s operational data, ADSL lines decreased from 64,959 in March 2024 to 29,770. This 54.2% decline highlights that the legacy broadband technology is slowly approaching the end of the road. Telkom’s ADSL business peaked at the end of March 2016 with 1.01 million subscribers — two years after fibre upstart Vumatel  broke ground in Parkhurst . What followed was a sharp decline in Telkom ADSL subscribers. Customers connected to its copper networks decreased by more than 500,000 over the next four years. This was partly driven by Telkom itself, which began actively switching off its copper network in some neighbourhoods. If it did not have fibre in the area, it would offer a “fixed line lookalike” wireless service that ran over its cellular ...
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WATCH | Chaos breaks out in parliament over 'Ramaphosa suspension', Mboweni weighs in

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 Unathi Nkanjeni

Reporter
 
07 May 2021 - 10:32

Chaos broke out in parliament on Thursday after EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu attempted to stop President Cyril Ramaphosa from answering questions.

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It all started after Shivambu asked Ramaphosa not to address the House following reports that he had been “suspended” by ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule. Watch the video from 9 minutes and 50 seconds mark. 

“All of us who are here are representing political parties. Who is representing the ANC? The information we have is that Mr Ramaphosa is suspended from the organisation. So you must clarify who he is representing because he’s not permitted,” said Shivambu.

Deputy speaker Lechesa Tsenoli shut down the line of attack, saying he would not take any orders.

“We don’t know what you’re talking about. As parliament, as far as we are concerned the president is here to respond to questions,” said Tsenoli.

After Ramaphosa started answering questions in the House, EFF leader Julius Malema reiterated Shivambu’s question, asking about Ramaphosa’s “suspension”.

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“I am confused if you are legitimately in parliament, since your membership of the party which lends you a seat has been suspended. Anything else that you do now will amount to fraudulent activities,” said Malema.

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While Ramapahosa remained mum on the EFF’s question, he did respond to DA leader John Steenhuisen’s statement regarding him being a “weak president” and disappointing the ANC.

Ramaphosa said ANC’s internal issues were none of the opposition party’s business.

“I’m just wondering what Mr Steenhuisen ate at lunch because it seems he’s a very angry young man,” he said.

“Let me just say, without going through the waffle of factional battles that have nothing to do with you, when you were involved in your own battles in the DA, you never heard a single one of us say anything. We did not comment because it’s not our space.

“What happens in the DA is your business and what is happening in the ANC is not your business, it is ANC business.”

The chaos at parliament made its way onto social media with finance minister Tito Mboweni condemning it.

Mboweni said the disruption was “childishness” and “anti-democracy”.

“To be disruptive, disorderly, disrespectful, uncouth, ungovernable and noisy in the National Assembly is not revolutionary. It is left-wing childishness! Actually right-wing behaviour and anti-democracy,” he lambasted.

Catching wind of Mboweni’s statement, Shivambu accused the minister of failing to manage SA’s economy.

“Failure to implement resolutions on a state bank and SARB [the SA Reserve Bank] is counter-revolutionary and reactionary,” said Shivambu.

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