ICASA councillor struck Vodacom deal

By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent

Cape Town, 22 Jun 2009

Sources allege a deal was struck between the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the SA Communist Party (SACP) and a senior ICASA councillor to persuade the telecommunications authority to prevent Vodacom's listing.

The sources are a person close to ICASA's council, and a senior government official.

In terms of the deal, the councillor, whose name is known to ITWeb, was to persuade the rest of the ICASA council to support Cosatu's court application, announced on 16 May, to prevent Vodacom's R22 billion JSE listing. In exchange, Cosatu would get the ruling African National Congress (ANC) parliamentary caucus to support the reappointment of the councillor.

The councillor in question was not at the office this morning and had not returned cellphone calls, so ITWeb was unable to put questions to this person.

One ICASA council position is due to fall vacant at the end of the month and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications is scheduled to interview a shortlist of candidates on 25 June. The committee has received 80 nominations, but these have not yet been supplied to members of Parliament and the committee is only due to determine its shortlist on Wednesday, the day before the interviews.

ICASA's vacillations

ICASA initially determined the Vodacom listing and its unbundling from Telkom did not require its approval, but decided the authority merely had to be notified about it. In May, just 48 hours before the listing, ICASA changed its mind and supported Cosatu's opposition to the listing and said public hearings needed to be held.

A High Court decision on the Sunday before the listing took place determined it should go ahead. The court awarded costs against ICASA, leaving the authority to pick up a multimillion-rand legal bill that ultimately government has to pay.

Last week, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee berated ICASA over the issue, leaving the authority's chairman, Paris Mashile, to make a contrite apology to the public oversight body. However, it was said then that the council (Mashile was not present when the decision to oppose the listing took place) did not follow procedure in notifying CEO Karabo Motlana in his capacity as accounting officer.

Parliamentary questions

Questions on the matter submitted by ITWeb prompted Dene Smuts, of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), to send SACP secretary general and minister of higher education Blade Nzimande a parliamentary question about the issue.

“Whether he (i) directly (ii) indirectly discussed, with a councillor of ICASA, a proposal that ICASA should reverse its earlier decision that no approval and no hearings were necessary in respect of Telkom's sale of 15% of Vodacom to Vodafone; if so, (a) which councillor (b) whether he undertook to (1) influence (2) ensure the reappointment of the councillor when his term expires?” Smuts' question asks.

DA communications committee member Lindiwe Mazibuko says the allegations that an ICASA councillor had made a deal with the Cosatu/SACP/ANC was “...very disappointing”.

“This is typical of the events that take place once Lithuli House [ANC head office] gets involved. This week, the communications committee has been obsessed with the dismissal of the South African Broadcasting Corporation's board and they are obviously hoping to get this council nomination in quickly,” she notes.

Juli Kilian, communications spokesperson for the Congress of the People (Cope), says: “The ICASA court case was irresponsible, and the role of individual councillors will be scrutinised by Cope. The role of the ANC and its alliance partners, in particular the interference in the affairs of yet another independent authority, should be condemned in the strongest terms.”

None of the ANC members were available to answer questions.

ICASA, its council and Cosatu all refused to comment on the issue.