Business group Sakeliga is taking Icasa to court over the 30% ownership rule for telecoms licensees, and its CEO, Piet le Roux, says the regulator has “clearly misunderstood” the law.
In this episode of the TechCentral Show, Le Roux tells Duncan McLeod why Sakeliga has asked the high court in Pretoria to set aside Icasa’s decision that it cannot give full effect to communications minister Solly Malatsi’s policy direction on equity-equivalent investment programmes (EEIPs) without a change in the law. EEIPs would let multinationals such as Starlink invest in skills and local suppliers instead of selling 30% of their South African operations to historically disadvantaged groups.
Le Roux explains why Sakeliga reads the words “or such other conditions” in the Electronic Communications Act as giving Icasa a choice. He also explains why the case forces the regulator to “play their hand”, and why Sakeliga hasn’t spoken to Malatsi, even though its case leans heavily on his policy direction.
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He sets out Sakeliga’s broader aim, calling B-BBEE “a very harmful policy programme”. He describes EEIPs, which would keep an empowerment requirement in place, as “a tax on being not black enough”.
He says BEE ownership deals that operators such as Vodacom, MTN and Telkom made “under a form of duress” should be revisable, case by case. And he responds to online claims that Elon Musk is bankrolling the case: “I’d be very happy to take any contribution from him. But no, we are funded by local people.”
Read our news story on the interview, which includes a telecoms lawyer’s assessment of Sakeliga’s chances.
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