Wednesday, 07 May 2025

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) calls for the immediate scrapping of the exploitative and unconstitutional expiration mandates for prepaid cellular mobile data and airtime. For years, South Africans have been subject to restrictive and anticonsumer expiration mandates as it relates to prepaid data and airtime, which regulates, restricts and undermines their access to information.

On the 10^th of March 2025, a delegation led by the Commander in Chief and President of the EFF Julius Malema met with the executive leadership of MTN South Africa led by CEO Charles Molapisi to discuss various challenges confronting the telecommunications sector. These included the opportunities and threats posed by foreign satellite network operators to local industries and employment; challenges posed by import duties to the cost of digital devices in South Africa; opportunities to improve telecommunications infrastructure in South Africa; and more critically the regime of prepaid data and airtime expiry mandates.

During these engagements, MTN alluded to the fact that data and airtime expiry mandates were industry practice which fall in the realm of regulation by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). As a result, during a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies held on the 18^th of March 2025, the EFF raised as a concern that the expiration of data and airtime in an environment where these essential resources are already expensive, deepen the digital divide and have a negative effect on consumers access to information.

ICASA had responded that it is in the process of reviewing expiration mandates and would embark on a process of public hearings in due course. However, to date we have not received a detailed breakdown on the process that will be undertaken to legislate the restriction of expiry of prepaid and data and airtime. Furthermore, data costs in South Africa are one of the highest, with countries like Malawi having significantly cheaper rates, highlighting the failure of ICASA to regulate these costs.

While data in South Africa is expensive, it is still crucial in a digital era and where access to information must be characterised as a basic human right. One requires data and airtime to apply for job opportunities, to pursue education and to relate with broader societal issues and in many instances to report crime and service delivery challenges. Restrictions such as expiration of data and airtime which is purchased within 5-days or even hours is not only a violation of consumer rights and a manipulation of pricing, but also an undermining of the ability of South Africans to live a life of dignity.

The EFF will therefore pursue in Parliament the immediate scrapping of expiration mandates for data and airtime, and subsequentl,y a complete review of data and airtime pricing plans to ensure that people are at the centre of all telecommunications pricing decisions.

Further to this, in accordance with the resolutions of the EFF 3^rd National People’s Assembly held at NASREC Expo Centre in December 2024, the EFF will pursue the establishment of free to access WIFI at clinics, libraries, and public areas owned by the government to ensure that people are not cut off from information due to their economic circumstances.

Data and airtime are not perishable goods, they do not rot and therefore they should not expire!

ISSUED BY THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Leigh-Ann Mathys (National Spokesperson) 082 304 7572

Thato Lebyane (Media Enquiries) 078 304 7572