ICASA needs a strong hand, one that will deliver the telecommunications regulator a resounding smack every time it sets a foot wrong, and place it back on the path of righteousness.
The heavy-handed behaviour exhibited by ICASA's inspectors towards alternative telecommunications provider Dabba shows those entrusted with protecting the public good can betray that trust and become a law unto themselves.
Dabba found itself holding the short end of an official stick last week, after its equipment at the sprawling Johannesburg squatter camp of Orange Farm was “confiscated” by ICASA inspectors. No official documentation was left, limited notice was given of a complaint allegedly laid by Telkom, and Dabba has yet to be properly notified of what the actual problem was or what has happened to its equipment.
Questions of intent
The fact that the equipment was located at an Aids orphanage and helped small businesses, such as an Internet caf'e, is almost irrelevant to the issue. It is the questionable behaviour of ICASA's staff that is of concern.
Questions about what those “inspectors” really wanted are beginning to be raised, and so bring the credibility of the authority into disrepute. Apparently these inspectors met with Dabba MD Rael Lissoos before that and left him picking up a lunch tab. The price of a Nando's lunch itself does not imply corruption, but what is implied in a conversation and left unsaid hints at it.
Dabba has shied away from making such allegations, but the questions remain over what the inspectors really wanted.
Questions about what those “inspectors” really wanted are beginning to be raised, and so bring the credibility of the authority into disrepute.
Paul Vecchiatto, Cape Town Correspondent
Making matters worse is that ICASA appears to have closed ranks. Although it eventually issued a statement, it was mealy-mouthed at best and took refuge in the technicalities of the law, which is supposed to determine the playing field. But this playing field is rapidly changing, leaving the law, at best, obsolete.
As this column is being written, Dabba has still not been officially informed about the confiscation of its equipment. Rather, every time it has inquired, it has been referred higher up the chain of command from one manager to the next, until it has eventually been told it must write a letter to the authority's chairperson, Paris Mashile.
This is the typical pattern of behaviour of a dysfunctional bureaucracy. When they have done something questionable, if not outright illegal, they shift the responsibility and blame into their labyrinth of procedures in the hopes of it becoming impossible to solve and so then forgotten. This leaves the officials who have committed the offense free to do so again.
Out of the woodwork
Since Dabba's issue surfaced, a number of other telecommunications operators have indicated they have suffered similar treatment at the hands of ICASA inspectors. However, they feel they will be unfairly prejudiced if they make these instances public.
This is another indication of a dysfunctional bureaucracy, one with little oversight or control over its employees.
Bodies that carry the burden of public trust must be reined in properly and made accountable to a higher authority. Their procedures must be fair and transparent, and they must adhere to them rigorously.
Regulators are the referees of an industry. But they are subject to political and commercial influences and, if they are to be seen as independent and acting without fear or favour, then they have to behave in such a manner that shakes off those influences, no matter how difficult it is to do so. It is their onerous task to ensure there is a fair and level playing field, and achieving that is a problem that regulators of all types continuously grapple with.
ICASA is embarking on a road show of its policies and informing people, mainly in rural areas, that they are entitled to quality of telecommunications services at affordable prices. Making a song and dance about this and then ripping out a service that is doing precisely that proves the authority has a cynical and disingenuous view of its responsibilities.
Rather than encouraging disruptive technologies and business models that would bring down the cost to communicate, ICASA is behaving in such a way as to ensure that tomorrow looks exactly the same as yesterday.
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