The long-running litigation between MTN Group and rival Turkcell is now headed to South Africa’s highest court.

This is after the supreme court of appeal on Tuesday upheld “aspects of the legal appeal” brought by Turkcell and after MTN vowed to fight this judgment in the constitutional court.

The allegations against MTN go back to the licensing of MTN Irancell, in which MTN has a 49% stake. Turkell has alleged the licence was awarded irregularly, something MTN has consistently denied. The company was exonerated from wrongdoing by a committee established in 2012 to probe the allegations of impropriety in Iran.

“The appeal was lodged against a high court judgment, in which the high court had dismissed Turkcell’s case against MTN Group on the basis that the South African courts did not have jurisdiction. The supreme court of appeal has set aside the judgment and decided that the South African courts do have jurisdiction. The SCA, however, upheld the high court ruling that Iranian law is applicable to key aspects of the dispute.”

MTN emphasised that the decision to uphold the appeal “does not relate to the merits of Turkcell’s claims or the allegations made against MTN Group, which have not yet been tested in court”.

“MTN has always maintained that the Turkcell litigation was without merit and has expressed confidence that it would successfully defend these proceedings,” it said.

Bribes

Turkcell first filed papers in South Africa in November 2013 regarding a licensing process in Iran that took place in 2005 in which it was an active participant. The licence went to a consortium that included MTN. Turkcell later sued MTN for US$4.2-billion (R78-billion at the time of writing) in damages and has accused MTN over the years of paying bribes to secure the licence.

Turkcell claimed it lost out to MTN after the latter paid bribes and other inducements to secure the lucrative stake. It also sought damages in the high court from former MTN Group CEO Phuthuma Nhleko and former director Irene Charnley, both of whom were intimately involved in the negotiations with the Iranians to secure the Irancell licence. Nhleko and Charnley have both denied the allegations.

Read: Bloodied Turkcell vows to continue legal battle with MTN

Turkcell’s legal challenge came despite the findings in 2013 of the Hoffmann Committee, appointed by MTN in 2012, which cleared the South African group of wrongdoing in Iran. That committee, chaired by South African-born former senior British jurist Leonard Hoffmann, found there was no conspiracy between MTN and Iranian officials to remove Turkcell from the bidding process. Indeed, the committee found that Turkcell’s allegations were a “fabric of lies, distortions and inventions”.

The Hoffman report cleared MTN, Nhleko and Charnley of wrongdoing. Lord Hoffmann found that MTN made no payments to South Africa’s then ambassador to Iran, Yusuf Saloojee, and neither Nhleko nor Charnley authorised former MTN Irancell director Chris Kilowan to promise him anything, as Turkcell had alleged. Kilowan’s allegations form the basis of Turkcell’s claims, but the committee found his evidence to be “unreliable”. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media