To cynics, the idea the Department of Communications (DOC) has a strategic plan is a contradiction in terms, because of the stop-start process of telecommunications liberalisation and its apparent knee-jerk reaction to issues. However, on 12 April DOC director general Lyndall Shope-Mafole proudly presented it to the Parliamentary Portfolio on Communications.

The Strategic Plan 2005 - 2008 is a credit to Shope-Mafole. For the first time there is a document outlining the overall issues the DOC has to deal with, what it plans to do and, very importantly, a detailed breakdown of expenditure and revenues.

However, what is equally important is what is left out. While it is a strategic plan, it should deal with some specific issues that are of national importance. For instance, schools are still not getting their 50 percent discount on Internet connectivity, largely because the DOC cannot get its act together. Surely, then, it is the DOC`s role to enable this, as it is responsible for the legislation?