Giving ICASA Teeth to bite

[DragonLogos]

Someone came up with this the other day and I thought it was a jolly good idea.

One of the problems you have with big companies is that you cannot exactly close them down, and I'm pretty sure that they know it too - ICASA when they were the IBA closed down Capital Radio, but they could not close down Telkom because then there would be no phone service

So how do you bring them in line.... You fine the directors - They are in charge, they step over the edge, they pay out of their own pockets. This is normal business practise BTW, and one that I think ICASA should get in place

 

[Debbie]

Telkom would out-litigate any attempt to impose such a thing. Telkom would argue that ICASA's jurisdiction does not hold when it comes to making judgements on their Corporate Governance. Telkom would demand evidence that this practice occurs in a similar circumstance in SA. Telkom would say that the directors are already accountable to shareholders by way of the market. Telkom would say they operate in a competitive market and it is unfair to impose rules on them and not others.

Even if such a thing could be implemented, Telkom would simply pay their directors more so they could afford the fines because this would no doubt be cheaper than actually having to confrom to some sort of Good Corporate Governance requirements.

Dragonlogos, I wish this would work in SA, but I really think it's a lost cause.

 

[w1z4rd]

Personaly, I wouldnt mind the stockholders been held accountable for their companies actions instead of the stakeholders like us.

Prehaps they would wisely spend their money, and keep a closer eye on the companies they are involved in.

 

[curiouswanderer]

Personaly, I wouldnt mind the stockholders been held accountable for their companies actions instead of the stakeholders like us.

Prehaps they would wisely spend their money, and keep a closer eye on the companies they are involved in.

unfortunately this will never happen. If so, nobody will ever buy stocks. ICASA just need balls to stand up to Telkom. Again, the problem is the gov has shares in Telkom which pay Ivy, her staff and ICASA staff...that's a dilemma the gov need to sort out. When gov lets go of Telkom then they'll have the balls to regulate the environment without legal action from the bastard telkom lawyers.

 

[BradDC]

I think its been said before, the only way to move things ahead is to force telkom to split up into smaller companies similar to what they did with BT in the UK.

 

[DragonLogos]

It is normal business practise that the Owners / Directors of a company (in SA) are directly responsible for the actions of that business, that goes for reckless trading, public liability, and taxes... the days of hiding behind a legal personality (ie company) are long gone. In fact the one of the few advantages gained these days for a company is the ability to roll over a company loss for a tax year

What has happened in this case is that present legal / admin system has not kept pace with Monopolies like Telkom, and this is one item that needs to be taken note of and put into action.... At the end of whatever day in the future it comes along, it will come along

 

[bwana]

Before giving ICASA the teeth to bite - how about a voice to speak? Delay after delay after delay makes me wonder if they could achieve anything, even with the most powerful of choppers, without some charismatic leadership.