The Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (Usaasa) has gazetted a draft manual setting out how the country’s Universal Service and Access Fund (USAF) should be administered, opening it for 30 days of public comment.
The draft manual, published in the Government Gazette on 23 February, establishes a strategic framework for the distribution of USAF subsidies and project grants aimed at extending electronic communications and broadcasting services to underserved areas.
However, the document is deliberately high-level, dealing only with objectives, guiding principles, funding instruments and governance arrangements. Usaasa said detailed operational procedures — covering how applications are invited, assessed, approved, contracted, paid, monitored and reported on — will be prescribed in separate procedural guidelines to be issued later.
The USAF has long been a source of frustration for the telecommunications industry. Funded by contributions from licensed operators, the fund has been criticised for years for failing to deploy meaningful amounts of money towards bridging South Africa’s digital divide, despite billions having been collected.
The draft manual covers two types of funding instruments: direct subsidies to eligible beneficiaries such as schools, colleges of further education and training, community access centres, and needy persons under section 88 of the Electronic Communications Act; and incentive-based project grants to network service licensees for building, operating and maintaining networks in underserved areas under section 90(1) of the legislation.
Policy frameworks
Among the guiding principles outlined are technology neutrality, performance-based funding linked to measurable milestones, transparency and procedural fairness, and a requirement that funded projects demonstrate long-term sustainability beyond the period of subsidy support.
The manual says it is aligned with national policy frameworks including the National Development Plan, SA Connect, the Medium-Term Development Plan and the Digital Economy Masterplan.
Usaasa acting CEO Thabiso Thukani signed off on the notice on 20 February. The agency’s use of an acting head underscores its long-running leadership instability.
Read: Solly Malatsi shakes up Usaasa board
Usaasa has long been one of South Africa’s most troubled state entities. The agency has faced persistent allegations of maladministration, unlawful expenditure and governance failures over more than a decade.
Auditor-general reports have repeatedly flagged irregular expenditure running into tens of millions of rands, including procurement transgressions and unauthorised fund transfers.
The entity’s disastrous handling of the multibillion-rand broadcasting digital migration programme — in which it spent more than R900-million on set-top boxes while hundreds of thousands of registered households were never connected — drew sustained criticism, with civil society organisation Outa labelling it a case of gross maladministration at taxpayers’ expense.
Read: Solly Malatsi fires two Usaasa board members
While the publication of a formal framework represents a step toward putting the USAF on a more structured footing, the absence of operational detail means the telecoms industry will have to wait for the procedural guidelines before it becomes clear whether the fund will finally begin disbursing money at scale. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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