Communications minister Faith Muthambi has ordered that four councillors at communications regulator Icasa whose terms are ending leave the institution and not stay on for a 45-day handover period, despite the fact that parliament has not begun the process of replacing them.
The four councillors are William Stucke, William Currie, Joseph Lebooa and Miki Ndhlovu.
Telecommunications lawyer and consultant Kerron Edmunson said on Tuesday that Muthambi has instructed the four to go.
“At the end of October, four councillors will end their terms of office,” Edmunson said at a breakfast presentation on Tuesday organised by telecoms consultancy BMI-TechKnowledge.
Edmunson described the development as “extremely worrying”, with a simple majority of just three out of five votes needed to make crucial decisions affecting the sector. She’s concerned that politically motivated decisions will be pushed through that are not necessarily in the interests of the sector.
Democratic Alliance MP Marian Shinn said parliament has not even advertised the vacant posts, let alone begun the process of interviews to draw up a shortlist of candidates, which usually takes months.
Icasa councillors are usually asked to stay on for 45 days after their terms end to allow the agency to function optimally until parliament appoints successors to fill the gaps, said Shinn. “The process has not even started, so I wonder if it was legal to remove them. The [Icasa Amendment] Act doesn’t say.”
“The minister of the department of communications has told them to leave — no need for a handover,” Edmunson said. “The minister would like to change the number of councillors from nine to five. The CEO [Pakamile Pongwana] might gain a vote on the council, which hasn’t been the case before. It looks like we might have a new-looking Icasa by the end of the year.”
Muthambi’s spokesman, Bongiwe Gambu, could not be reached on her mobile phone for comment. According to an Icasa spokesman, Icasa councillors were locked in a council meeting on Tuesday and could not immediately be reached for comment. — (c) 2014 NewsCentral Media