Parliament's communications committee is concerned because ICASA councillor William Stucke has not disposed of his interests in ISP QPOP, and he has to recuse himself from licence hearings at the regulator.
Stucke, however, says he is due to complete the sale of his interests next week, and he is within the six-month timeframe allocated to him to do so. He also says the ICASA council decision - to exclude him from licence hearings - was just a necessary step to pre-empt any objection to licences issued from the date he was appointed to the council.
Stucke also says Dominic Cull, of Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions, was appointed in November to handle the QPOP disposal, and it is a “very tiny ISP with only about 100 customers”.
A letter sent by ICASA chairman Paris Mashile, to the head of Parliament's communications committee, Ismail Vadi, dated 1 April 2010, says of a council decision taken on 30March: “That councillor, WF Stucke, may not participate in any licensing or regulatory matters in council or its committees, until such time he disposes of his interests in the sector.”
Vadi, who has circulated the letter to Members of Parliament, says if the issue was not resolved soon, it could mean the committee would have to institute an investigation into Stucke's apparent failure.
“There has been a very strong move to resolve conflicts of interest and if this is not sorted out, we may have to hold hearings that could possibly mean the removal of a councillor,” he says.
Vadi also pointed out that if Stucke was found guilty of such conflicts of interest, it could prove extremely embarrassing to communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda.
“The minister stuck his neck out for William Stucke,” Vadi says.
Last year, Nyanda surprised Parliament when selecting Stucke ahead of Super5Media regulatory manager Khulile Boqwana, after the latter had been deemed the committee's preferred choice.
“The minister knew that he should have selected a black person, however, he liked Stucke's enthusiasm and apparent commitment to the job, and so, if all this is true, it would be highly disappointing,” Vadi says.
ICASA has for a long time being wilting under a series of allegations by the communications committee and industry for non-performance and for being dysfunctional.
During his parliamentary interview, Stucke declared his interests and committed himself to disposing of it within six months of being appointed.
Applied principle
Mashile says council is aware of Stucke's situation, but that council had to apply the principle that “even if one declares the interest, something must be done about it”.
He says when council had discovered that Stucke was in a conflict of interest situation, it alerted him, the Department of Communications and Parliament to the fact.
“The consequences of confliction are far-reaching. It could mean that all decisions are made null and void; it could also mean that the councillor could face a fine of up to R250 000,” he says.
Part of the confusion is about when exactly Stucke was appointed to ICASA. The Government Gazette stated it was from 1 November, while he actually began work on 16 November, but his letter of appointment from the Department of Communications says he was appointed on 1 December 2009.
According to Stucke, he takes his six months from 16 November and so is still within the time he originally committed himself to.
He also says his disposal of his and his family interests in QPOP was delayed because the purchaser had to raise their black economic empowerment shareholding to match his. QPOP has a 35% historically disadvantage individual shareholding that is higher than the minimum 30% set by ICASA in its licence conditions.
A check of the Cipro site shows that QPOP's holding company, Quickstep 691, was in the process of being deregistered.
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