Icasa chairman Stephen Mncube has downplayed the impact of a decision by communications minister Faith Muthambi to ask four of the communications regulator’s councillors to leave before they have served a customary handover period of 45 days. However, in a statement, Mncube does not address the minister’s unexpected decision.
“The Icasa Act, as amended, provides for the continued and legitimate decision making by the council of Icasa, even in instances where there are fewer councillors in office at any given time, as has been the case previously,” he said in the statement.
“There have, in the past, been periods when there was less than the full complement of councillors in office and this did not impede decision making or bring into question the legitimacy of decisions,” he said.
On Tuesday, TechCentral revealed that four Icasa councillors — William Stucke, William Currie, Joseph Lebooa and Miki Ndhlovu — had been asked to leave the institution and would not stay on for a customary 45-day handover period, despite the fact that parliament has not begun the process of replacing them.
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.
She said the development was “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.”
In his statement, Mncube said: “The minister last week requested councillors whose terms of office are ending to complete their handover and wrap-up their activities a month after the end of their terms of office.”
He said Icasa had planned for the departure of the four councillors since the beginning of the financial year.
“In planning for the end of terms of councillors, all council activities were headed by a councillor whose term was not to end during the current financial year, and supported by outgoing councillors,” he said. “Accordingly, the authority is confident that it has put in place sufficient measures to accommodate the departure of some councillors. This does not, however, take away from [the] invaluable contribution of [the] outgoing councillors.” — © 2014 NewsCentral Media
