The Pretoria High Court has given Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and Nexus Connexion, led by Kennedy Memani, until October 12 for the parties to resolve the impasse relating to the second national operator (SNO) composition.
“The first prize for Nexus is to have the SNO moving as soon as possible and their attitude has always been to resolve this issue speedily and amicably and not through a protracted court order,” said Nexus lawyer Daniel Pretorius.
He said it was encouraging to see that the court had granted the parties time to negotiate. He added that Nexus was losing out financially but also could not simply take a risk to allow the operator to proceed, even if that placed the future of telecommunications and impact on consumers at risk.
The court noted that the minister and Nexus were currently in negotiations and if the matter was not settled by October 12, then Matsepe-Casaburri would file her answering affidavit by October 18 and Nexus its replying affidavit by October 22.
Nexus, which holds a 19% equity in the SNO, appealed against the minister’s decision to grant Two Consortium and CommuniTel stakes in the SNO. Nexus accused the minister of overstepping her authority and acting illegally as she overrode the regulator which had rejected Two’s and CommuniTel’s bids describing them as sub-standard.
These two companies each hold 12,5% in the operator.
The minister’s advisor on the SNO, Peter de Klerk, was not available for comment. – I-Net Bridge