Using a smart card, a fingerprint and a password, President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday signed into law the Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Bill.
The ECT Act makes this advanced electronic signature legal.
The process started with SA Post Office chairwoman Badirileng Mokone duly stating: ”I identify you as the President.”
Face-to-face identification was an integral part of the process, she explained.
The digital signature was encrypted on the card, similar to a smart card, Mokone said.
Holding his right thumb to a scanner, the President mumbled something about what fingerprints were normally used for.
After keying in the password with Mokone’s help, he quipped: ”It’s known only by me, but she just told me.”
His signature appeared on the screen and the Bill became an Act.
At the signing ceremony Communications Minister Ivy
Matsepe-Casaburri said the Act allowed for data messages to be legally recognised. It would ease the conclusion of deals and transactions on-line.
Its benefits included extended market reach and increased revenue potential, as well as more choice for consumers, she said.
”Electronic transactions have become one of the predominant channels of international trade. The ECT Act caters for the needs of the constantly changing technological environment.”
It would ensure that electronic transactions conformed with international standards and prevent abuse of information systems, Matsepe-Casaburri said.
”It will ensure that the national interests of the Republic are not compromised through the use of electronic communication.”
The Act’s provisions would also facilitate e-governance and the on-line activities of smaller enterprises.
The most controversial part of the Act is Chapter X, which allows for a not-for-profit company to control the .za domain. Its nine directors will be nominated by the Minister following a process of public nomination and selection by an independent panel.
The Act says the board must be demographically representative and represent various different stakeholder groups.
Mike Lawrie, the current administrator of the .za domain, as well as Namespace ZA, the body formed to take over the administration from him, has complained about what they claimed would be too much government control over the domain administration.
Matsepe-Casaburri on Wednesday said the legislation had gone through an extensive process, including scrutiny by the state law advisers and the President’s legal advisers.
”The President’s legal advisers have looked at all these issues.
They are confident and have given us the assurance that they didn’t find anything unconstitutional or problematic.”
She said the government would engage with the concerned parties about ”some issues that I think have caused a bit of consternation”.
However, the wealth of the country must be allowed to move ahead, Matsepe-Casaburri said.
”We shouldn’t allow our differences not to let us go forward.
There seems to be mutual agreement between ourselves and those who have differences with us to say we need to go forward.” – Sapa