Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) councillor Mamodupi Mohlala has close links with companies bidding for licences that the council is due to adjudicate, leaked documents and company records show.
The Mapungubwe consortium, which has close links with the empowerment network of the late Brett Kebble and his associate Sello Rasethaba, has applied for a radio licence in Limpopo. Mohlala is a director of Thari Ya Basadi, a major shareholder in the consortium.
The consortium is led by Rasethaba and Telecom Mapungubwe, a separate company that has also applied for an ”under-serviced area licence” (Usal) to operate a telephone service in the Bushbuckridge area. Mohlala chairs Icasa’s Usal committee and, while her interest is in the radio licence application rather than directly in Telecom Mapungubwe, the relationship between the two appears to test the strict conflict of interest provisions of the Icasa Act.
Thari Ya Basadi lists among its directors Consolidated Mining Management Services (CMMS), a vehicle used by Kebble to channel funding from the mining house JCI to various empowerment ventures, with minimal transparency.
Critics of his accounting practices describe it as a slush fund, which enabled him to move huge sums of cash — perhaps as much as R1,4billion — out of JCI without revealing details to shareholders.
CMMS is also one of two directors listed for Telecom Mapungubwe. The other director is Gafele Edwin Bogopa, who has interests in several companies linked to Kebble. And Rasethaba, whose resources firm Matodzi was financed by CMMS, is one of the ”promoters” leading both bids.
Rasethaba, however, said that CMMS had only provided company secretarial services and was no longer involved.
According to an internal memo obtained by the Mail & Guardian, General Manager of Broadcasting and now acting CEO Eric Nhlapo on November 2 asked Icasa’s legal department ”for an opinion on a potential conflict on [sic] interest with regards to the application of Telecom Mapungubwe for a commercial sound broadcasting licence in the Limpopo province.
”On perusal of the application, it became apparent that Councillor Mamodupi Mohlala is a director on the board of Thari Ya Basadi, a broad-based empowerment company that would own 60% of the radio station should the application be successful.”
As the memo points out, Section 6 of the Icasa Act has extremely stringent provisions on conflict of interest.
”A person may not be appointed as a councillor if he or she, or his or her family, has a direct or indirect financial interest in the telecommunications or broadcasting industry or his or her business partner or associate holds an office in or with, or is employed by any person or body whether corporate or unincorporated [with such an] interest.”
The memo goes on to say that Mohlala told the council she had only become aware of the application after it had been lodged, and offered to recuse herself from the process.
Jayshree Naidoo and Juliana Roux of Icasa’s legal department told Nhlapo in another memo that ”prima facie evidence suggests a transgression of Section 6”. They went on to say that they couldn’t give a firm opinion owing to ”lack of crucial information, including whether the councillor concerned disclosed her interest to council/minister; was permission granted following any disclosure or application”.
According to the Icasa Act, if a conflict of interest arises, the councillor in question must immediately declare it, and recuse him- or herself. It is not clear whether Icasa is aware of the apparent conflict of interest over Telecom Mapungubwe’s Usal application, but spokesperson Jubie Matlou says the authority is satisfied that she declared her interest in the radio licence.
Rasethaba said Thari Ya Basadi was set up to benefit rural women, and that Mohalala drew neither director’s fees nor dividends. ”We are satisfied that Mamodupi did declare her interest, and she has gone further to say she would recuse herself,” he added.
Mohlala declined to comment, saying she was busy chairing Usal hearings in KwaZulu-Natal.