Opposition MPs have expressed outrage at the final list of nominations for independent communications authority Icasa’s council, which has been passed by the National Assembly.
The list contains the names of two current department of communication officials, raising questions about Icasa’s independence, and past councillor Mamodupi Mohlala, the subject of numerous allegations of moonlighting and conflict with Icasa staff in recent months.
DA and IFP MPs are also horrified at the inclusion in the final list of Mashila Matlala, the government official who was actively involved in changes to the Icasa Amendment Bill rejected by President Thabo Mbeki as unconstitutional.
In drafting the Icasa Amendment Bill in September last year, the department amended the process required for selecting Icasa councillors, placing the ultimate responsibility with Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
Icasa is a ”chapter nine body”, which must be viewed as constitutionally independent from the government, and critics argue that this move compromises the regulator’s independence.
The controversial selection process detailed in the original Bill was altered after Mbeki sent it back to Parliament in April this year, and it was then promulgated.
IFP communications spokesperson Suzanne Vos said there was every reason to be concerned about the independence of the regulator following the finalisation of the nomination list.
”This is a naked attempt to strike at the heart of the independence of the regulator,” said Vos. ”It is quite simply outrageous. You have a situation where a communications department employee who made it quite clear in the interview that she has no concept of independence is nominated.”
DA communications spokesperson Dene Smuts described the nomination of Matlala as ”deeply regrettable”.
”The minister and department tried throughout last year not only to remove the regulator’s independence, first in the law and then constitutionally, but also to subvert the declared intentions of the National Assembly at that time to retain and respect that independence,” commented Smuts.
”The very same official who at each stage of the legislative process defied the National Assembly — inter alia by directing redrafts in conflict with our declared decision to keep Icasa independent — and who sat with the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) when it swept the National Assembly version of the law off the table, has now been nominated by the same ANC MPs to the regulator.”
Vos added that Matlala ”diligently and enthusiastically voiced the opinions of her minister and director general in trying to ensure that the minister could hire, look at performance audits and fire councillors. When the National Assembly rejected that, she trotted off to the NCOP.”
Smuts said the other communications department official nominated, Brenda Ntombela, who works under the current director general Lyndall Shope-Mafole, had not inspired confidence in her expertise in the necessary fields.
Vos pointed out that Ntombela had only worked at the communications department for four years. Before that she had been employed as a nurse.
Vos also expressed dismay at the selection of previous Icasa councillor Mohlala, saying she had clearly been the cause of much unhappiness at the regulator and that her continued work at her law firm, Mohlala Attorneys, was problematic.
Smuts pointed out that a panel of experts was meant to sit with Parliament’s communications committee during the interview process, but that the ANC majority in the committee had believed that this was unnecessary.
”If you have a panel of experts sitting with you it interferes with making political choices,” said Smuts.
Smuts said that if Matsepe-Casaburri sent back a list of five that included Matlala, the DA would mount a challenge.
The department of communications did not respond to Mail & Guardian queries prior to the paper’s deadline.
CEO not suspended after all
In an about-face, Icasa has admitted that suspended CEO Jackie Manche has, in fact, not been suspended since February and has been allowed to return to work.
Manche was suspended on November 24 last year after cash disappeared from an Icasa safe and after there was a dispute over vehicle purchases.
Manche’s lawyer Ruth Edmonds says that several months ago she pointed out to Icasa that they had not passed another resolution extending Manche’s suspension beyond February 4 this year, a fact she says Icasa disputed.
Edmonds says after that Manche’s Icasa disciplinary hearing was repeatedly delayed and she took the case to the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) because she felt the length of the suspension was unjustly affecting Manche and that her reputation was being tarnished.
Edmonds said that prior to the CCMA hearing Icasa’s lawyers informed her that a new resolution had not been passed and that Manche had not been suspended since February.
”In effect the ludicrousness of their position is they allowed her to be absent without leave and they paid her,” said Edmonds.
Manche has been invited to return to Icasa and resumed her role as CEO this week.
Edmonds says the Icasa disciplinary hearing has still not taken place and is currently scheduled for the end of October.
Manche refused to comment, directing all enquiries to her lawyer.
Icasa spokesperson Jubie Matlou said the rationale behind Manche’s suspension was to allow investigations into the alleged violations to proceed unhindered. ”Charges have since been levelled against the CEO and there is no longer a need for her to be suspended,” said Matlou.