With this issue, we bid farewell to 2013 – and I have a feeling that many people are rather glad to see the back of it. While I wouldn’t say that it’s been a complete annus horribilis for the local ICT sector, it’s certainly been a year that is unlikely to be remembered for its highlights.

Unfortunately, the past 12 months did produce some significant lowlights and these are hard to ignore when doing a quick wrap-up of the year.

Probably ranking as the top scandal in our sector this year would be the messy sex, lies and red shoes saga that led to former communications minister Dina Pule" rel=tag>Dina Pule’s fall from grace. She was fired from the portfolio by President Jacob Zuma" rel=tag>Jacob Zuma in July, less than a month before being found guilty of misleading Parliament’s ethics committee about her conduct relating to the ICT Indaba, in 2012, as well as her involvement with businessman Phosane Mngqibisa, who is said to have benefited financially from the event.

Another significant lowlight also belongs to the DOC – the failure to implement, or indeed meaningfully advance, South Africa’s digital TV migration. The process has been ongoing for several years and government has announced, and subsequently missed, numerous deadlines. The latest deadline, set for some time this year, came and went like all the others. Hopefully, current communications minister Yunus Carrim" rel=tag>Yunus Carrim can get on top of this one.

Worth a dubious mention is the suspension of the State IT Agency’s board, pending the completion of a probe into tenders awarded by the agency during the past nine years.

The Department of Public Service and Administration also makes the list, having failed to appoint a government CIO for over two and a half years now.

Conversely, the highlights have been few and far between – both in the private and public sector. Perhaps one can take comfort in the fact that mobile price war has gathered more steam this year, ultimately benefi ting the consumer.

However, an unexpected good news story was Telkom, which pleasantly surprised the market with its appointment of a well-respected and competent management team. Furthermore, the company finally revealed a claw-back plan and is making the right noises about getting things turned around. Hopefully, they can pull it off.

Finally, I left the worst for last. The dreaded Gauteng tolls are here and government has stubbornly refused to listen to the overwhelming opposition voiced by motorists. While this will no doubt take away some Christmas cheer, a number of organisations have vowed to continue the fight. Let’s see how this ends.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. If 2013 wasn’t all that great, next year can only be better.

Be safe this festive season and, most importantly, kick back and relax.

Happy reading!

Martin Czernowalow