United Kingdom-headquartered cellphone giant Vodafone, is dangling a R60-billion carrot that would represent the country’s largest foreign investment to date, dwarfing the R33-billion Barclays invested for a controlling stake in Absa.
The embattled communications regulator wants the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to conduct a witch-hunt into recent leaks that have drawn attention to the dire state of the regulator. Minutes of the June council meeting of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) report that its chairperson, Paris Mashile, ”has contacted the NIA to conduct an investigation on the leaks at Icasa”.
The good news is house prices are up 14% on last year. The bad news is this is the slowest growth in prices in four-and-a-half years. While lower transfer fees — after lower transfer fees were announced by Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel in the Budget — were expected to bring resilience to the sector of the market up to R1-million, the cooling down in prices is across all sectors.
South Africa’s communications regulator has been rocked by allegations that councillors regularly violate the Icasa Act by participating in activities of stakeholders in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) councillor Mamodupi Mohlala included the allegation in a letter of response to an inquiry about her work.
Fresh conflict is boiling between the council and management of South Africa’s communications regu-lator, as the regulator pushes ahead with disciplinary action against its suspended CEO. Icasa suspended Manche on November 24 last year after the disappearance of cash from an Icasa safe and a dispute over vehicle purchases.
A free junket to London, courtesy of Telkom, for senior officials of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has drawn criticism. Against the backdrop of attempts to break Telkom’s fixed-line monopoly, the freebie to attend a conference in April hosted by the International Institute of Communications, has attracted censure for the apparent conflict of interest.
According to an exit report by a senior Icasa staffer, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) chairperson, Paris Mashile, regularly arrived late, took off his shoes and slept on the job during his tenure as a councillor. Yet he was promoted to the top position.
South Africa’s telecommunication industry is so poorly structured that an industry worth several billion has sprung up in its shadows, offering cut-price calls. The LCR or least-cost routing industry is saving businesses up to 40%, through implementing savings on the cellphone portion of their Telkom bill.
The SABC is fumbling nervously through its Unauthorised documentary series, which critics charge is anything but "unauthorised". Following last week’s controversial last-minute canning of the documentary on President Thabo Mbeki, sources have told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> that SABC management has interfered with other films in the series.
Just as the African National Congress has set up a commission to investigate hoax e-mails, a new e-mail scandal involving the Jewish Board of Deputies and the ANC has erupted. The board’s national director, Yehuda Kay, has stepped down over an e-mail he sent to the head of the ANC policy centre, Mandla Mabuza, which contained disparaging comments about Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon.