The Congress of SA Trade Unions (COSATU) is to launch a boycott of Vodacom products and services following its disappointment over a High Court decision refusing its application to halt the cellular network operator listing.
On Sunday evening Pretoria High Court judge John Murphy dismissed the application that was urgently brought by the trade union, following Friday's 11th hour change of heart by communications regulator ICASA that the deal to list Vodacom did need its approval.
The full judgment is still to be released.
Thirty fiver percent of Vodacom's shares are due to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Monday morning in a deal that is worth R22.5 billion. UK group Vodafone will now hold the controlling 65% of the shares. The deal will see Telkom being divested of its 50% stake in the network operator after having an equal shareholding to Vodafone's for the past 16 years.
Sunday's court interdict was brought by COSATU because it felt that neither its members nor the public were consulted about the transaction.
Initially ICASA said the transaction did not need its approval, but then suddenly, on Friday, it said it did. The regulator also said that it needed to now conduct public hearings on the issue.
COSATU spokesperson Patrick Craven says the court's decision is disappointing and it means that a foreign firm will now own a vitally important company.
“It means that many South Africans will now suffer job losses and it is an overall loss for all the people of the country in a deal that only serves the narrow interests of a select few people,” Craven says.
He says that COSATU's central committee will be meeting on 1 and 2 June when it will discuss the campaign to boycott Vodacom.
“We will do everything legally possible to reverse this transaction,” Craven says.
Vodacom's chief communications officer Dot Field says: “We welcome the judgment and we look forward to listing tomorrow.”
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