Ozymandias
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http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/article.aspx?ID=368897
Anarchist doesn’t want to be fascist
28 January 2007
WIDE AWAKE: Icasa’s Paris Mashile is under no illusions about his job Picture: RUSSELL ROBERTS ©FINANCIAL MAIL
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PARIS MASHILE: Chairman of Icasa
Regulator has no regrets about his actions and insists Telkom needs to pull up its socks, writes Chris Barron
It is hard to know what is more alarming: the fact that we’re still paying more for telecommunications than anyone else, or the fact that the man charged to protect us from these predatory rates is fast asleep on the job.
This is according to the very ex-secretary of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) chairman Paris Mashile, who made this allegation — among others — in her exit interview last year.
“I think people should be a little bit scientific,” he sniffs when I bring up Shameen Naidoo’s revelations.
“What motivated her to say what she said?”
Apart from the fact that he let her know from day one of his appointment in 2005 that he didn’t want her around, I can’t imagine.
“She used to be in my office and I got her out of my office for very good reasons. She was doing things behind my back.”
She apparently nominated someone for counsellor using the chairman’s letterhead without his knowledge, let alone permission. She said some extremely damaging things about him.
Were these allegations ever independently investigated?
“We thought it wouldn’t be good to waste our resources. If you look at the facts, she was talking nonsense.”
She also called him a racist. “I fought against racism, how can I be a racist? My wife is of Indian origin. I wouldn’t have touched her with a 10-foot barge pole if I were really that type of person.”
What about former chief executive Jackie Manche, who was suspended on full pay for 10 months while extremely serious allegations of misconduct were investigated?
Mashile says he played that situation strictly by the book.
How could the internal investigation have taken the best part of a year?
Her lawyer kept playing for time by frequently being unavailable and there was nothing anyone could do about it without finding themselves on the wrong side of the labour law, he says.
Finally, when charges were raised against her, she resigned rather than face them. Mashile denies a cover-up, although neither the press nor members of the portfolio committee on telecommunications were informed.
There will be no further investigation by Icasa, although the matter has been handed to the police, Mashile says.
Wasn’t it an insult to good corporate governance to issue a statement conveying Icasa’s “sincerest gratitude” to Manche?
“This is normal civilised behaviour between employee and employer. She did certain things that we have to thank her for.”
Another suggestion that Mashile is not running a happy ship at Icasa is the exodus of senior staff.
“There are a plethora of reasons why people leave. We don’t have indentured labour here. We have market forces that dictate.”
Do an audit of other companies and you’ll find the same “merry-go-rounds and musical chairs”, he says. “It’s one of the unintended consequences of democracy. The fact that these people left has not hobbled us.”
Maybe, maybe not. The fact is that public anger with Telkom is boiling over — the latest evidence being a full-page newspaper advertisement paid for by enraged consumers — and angry fingers are being pointed at Icasa for not fulfilling its watchdog role.
Mashile says he “empathises” with this show of public disenchantment.
“Good for them. An activist community is what we need in South Africa. We need to put their [Telkom’s] feet to the fire.”
But to blame Icasa is part of a “campaign of demonisation”. The good things it has done are not sufficiently acknowledged.
Like?
The second national operator, “which has an opportunity to give all the mumblers and grumblers the kind of service they want at an affordable price”, he says.
This will take forever, won’t it?
“Neotel is very slow coming. They should have taken advantage of this by now. Everybody is hoping that they will give Telkom a bash.”
Mobile number portability is another achievement he is proud of. What is Icasa doing about cellphone operators who, according to increasing reports, are making it as difficult as possible for consumers to switch?
“Let complaints be brought to us. We have to have the facts and the evidence then I will call on them to account for that. I don’t want to be seen as a fascist person knocking every door down.”
Maybe this is precisely what consumers want from Icasa? “Well, yes, I can understand that. But you don’t want to end up embarrassing yourself.”
He says Telkom has made life extremely difficult for Icasa by taking it to court at every opportunity.
“Then it does whatever it wants while we are waiting for a court decision. That is a trick they’ve always used.”
In addition Icasa has not had sufficient resources, either financial or human, to do what people expect, but the Electronic Communications Act (ECA), which is introducing “a plethora of competitors”, will change things in its favour.
Of course with the ECA come even more responsibilities for the regulator, and if he doesn’t have the resources now, then ...
“Lack of resources is a key issue that is being addressed.”
Mashile, 58, describes himself as a child of apartheid. “I suffered the full brunt from birth.”
He was born in Sophiatown which was bulldozed by the government when he was eight. He went to Orlando High School, where his contemporaries included Kgalema Motlanthe, Jackie Selebi, Bridget Mabandla and Mosiuoa Lekota.
He then read physics and maths at Turfloop university but his studies came to a rude halt in his third year when there was a student uprising.
A member of the Black Consciousness Movement, he was arrested and held for 24 hours at John Vorster Square. “It was real bad.” He was taken to the 10th floor and shown the open window. Within hours of his release he had fled for Botswana.
He obtained a degree in physics and electronic engineering at Leeds University in the UK, followed by a Masters in physics (laser technology) at Lancaster University and a Masters in electronic engineering at Washington University in the US.
In between he taught physics at the University of Botswana. He left his house there a month before South African security forces raided the place.
He returned to South Africa in 1994 where he tried unsuccessfully for an academic post in physics.
But his first love is electronic engineering, and he would “gladly” leave Icasa if someone offered him a lectureship, he says.
In brief
Marital status: Married with two children
Defining moment: Leaving his house in Botswana just ahead of SA security forces
Relaxation: Golf and reading
Personal philosophy: “I’m an anarchist”
Current reading: Noam Chomsky
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