Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) president Joseph Kabila has intervened in the ongoing dispute between Vodacom and Congolese Wireless Network (CWN), the junior partner in the JSE-listed cellular group’s operation in the troubled central African nation, to try to find a solution to a protracted dispute between the parties.

Earlier this year Vodacom and CWN agreed to international arbitration proceedings in Brussels after relations between the two groups appeared to break down completely.

CWN chairman Alieu Conteh has accused Vodacom of “plundering” Vodacom DRC, repatriating profits instead of reinvesting the money in the business and paying corporate taxes in the DRC. Conteh accused Vodacom of “abusing and exploiting” shareholders in CWN.

But now TechCentral has established that Kabila met with Vodacom Group CEO Pieter Uys and CWN representatives about two weeks ago in an attempt to understand and resolve the dispute.

And the parties have now agreed, following a board meeting in Johannesburg on Thursday, to keep an open dialogue to save Vodacom DRC from operational collapse.

Uys says there is still little agreement between the parties, but he says they have at least agreed to meet on a regular basis in an effort to keep the troubled DRC business running. Vodacom and CWN are scheduled to meet again in a few weeks.

“We agreed it’s important not to destroy the business in the process,” Uys says. “We have listened to management, and the two shareholders are supporting them.”

He says he is “positive” that the talks will lead to a constructive outcome of some sort. “I can’t say where it will lead, but we have taken the first steps.”

Uys confirms that both he and CWN representatives, led by Conteh, met with Kabila in Kinshasa two weeks ago. They agreed at the meeting to try to resolve at least some of their issues, though the arbitration proceedings will continue for now.

Uys says that ultimately one of the shareholders could buy the other out. However, he says Vodacom has not tabled an offer to acquire CWN’s 49% stake in the DRC business and it’s not clear if it will do so. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral