During the Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC), which recently took place at the East London Convention Centre, South Africa’s deputy minister of communications, Obed Bapela, called for the encryption codes on BlackBerry devices to be made available to the South African government.

According to AFP, the reason behind this move was because of security concerns, as criminal elements can employ BB mobile devices to communicate, without crime enforcement agencies being able to monitor it. Now however, a statement from minister of communications, Roy Padayachie, has been released, “clarifying” his department’s position.

Padayachie stated that government “has no intention to regulate or legislate against Blackberry Encryption messenger services (BBM). The Government is still working on a policy statement on Cyber matters which policy will review current regulatory and Legislative instruments with respect to cyberspace matters.”

He said that he welcomes the willingness of RIM to work closely with the South African government, in order to prevent the abuse of these encrypted messenger services by criminals for unlawful purposes.

The minister also reiterated that government “has no intention to intercede or interfere with the privacy of communications between private citizens for lawful purposes.”

Last year India and several Middle East countries including Saudi Arabia threatened to ban internet usage, email and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) on BlackBerry devices within the region, if the holding company Research in Motion (RIM) didn’t provide them with access to its encrypted data networks due security concerns. Following concessions by the Canadian smartphone and tablet maker their issues were laid to rest.

In related news RIM and Vodacom also recently launched the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone in South Africa.