It was announced last week that Michael Markovitz, former special advisor to Icasa chairperson Mandla Langa, has been appointed director of convergence at listed private media company Primedia. Markovitz informs eMedia, that he began as an official Primedia employee on July 1, which is one day after his six-year contract with the regulator ended.
‘I will be focusing on a number of large opportunities in the group which will have a convergence angle,” says Markovitz. ‘Primedia will be announcing these plans within the month, so I can’t reveal specific details at this stage.” The plans, he says, will involve the changes around convergence in the legislative environment.
In the context of the ‘cooling-off period” resolution recently adopted by the ANC’s national general council, the appointment of Markovitz has come as a surprise to some. But there is not as yet any legal stipulation that prevents the appointment.
‘Obviously, a cooling-off period has to be determined from the outset of a contract, it can’t be made in retrospect,” says Markovitz. ‘There are no restraints in employment contracts at Icasa at the moment. As an advisor on contract for six years, I was always free to seek employment elsewhere.”
Markovitz continues, ‘in the absence of a cooling-off period, one has to be guided by one’s own principles and ethics.”
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