‘We got it wrong’ — Icasa

Us taxpayers should not pay the legal fees, make the 6 councillors who made the mistake personally liable and force them to pay the R5million.
 
Yeah got it wrong - decisions taken in the hallway without the "Big Cheese, Paris"

How the fsck are they independent?
Our government should take a page out of Ofcom's book.
 
What they did was utterly stupid but one can't really say it wasn't "independent" since the government had already agreed to the Vodacom sale:

[Committee chairperson Ismail Vadi] questioned Icasa’s independence, saying it had joined a “civil society grouping” like Cosatu despite the then president Kgalema Motlanthe having signed off on the deal.

“Since when does an independent regulator join action with a civil society grouping against the very government you are serving?” he asked.
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I don't think that Mr Vadi knows what independence means if he's asking that kind of stupid question. An independent regulator should apply the rules no matter who's signed off on it, government or not. As in independent regulator you shouldn't be "serving the government" just like the SABC as an independent broadcaster shouldn't be "serving the government".

Sadly I don't think this was a sudden development of independent backbone. Just ICASA bootlicking gone wrong, and misreading the signs of changing political winds.

had been approached by Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and Jacob Zuma’s lawyer Julie Mohame
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Clearly if JZs lawyer was involved it must mean JZ himself supports the motion. Sycophantic fail!

Mashile admitted, when questioned by members over the oversight role that Icasa plays, that the organisation is sometimes out of its league in an ICT sector awash with many billions of rands.

“Without a doubt the operators are like Goliath... when we take them on it’s akin to that of a heavyweight boxer fighting with a flyweight boxer.”
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What a crock of an excuse. This David never even got to fight Goliath, instead tripping over his own shoelaces through a total lack of co-ordination.

During the initial, open hearing, Icasa chairman Paris Mashile said he and his 25- strong team present “got it wrong”.

He said they were “filled with contrition, remorse and regret” over joining Cosatu’s application to stop the listing.
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Vadi also lambasted the regulator on other issues, questioning overseas trips by its executive, work attendance and irregular appearances before parliament. It was subsequently decided that the board must present quarterly reports to the committee.
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I wish that any of this meant that ICASA would actually pick up its game, but to me it just sounds like they're being punished for picking the wrong horse in the political derby. Next time "independent" Paris will make sure he's exactly clear on what his masters want him to do.
 
ICASA are on of the biggest jokes ever perpetrated on the South African public. They are beyond useless, they actually damaged the industry.
 
Independent se gat man!

We (the consumer & telecomms activists) are better off without this witless rabble costing us even more money after NOT looking out for us on any other front, which is essentially their role.

Surely we could assign a kindergarten to this portfolio to get things right a bit?
 
Who cares what Paris says - what are you going to do about it sir? How about admitting you have got Telkom consistently wrong since so called 'independence'?

Oh, by wrong you mean it affected your own pocket...
 
A shocking turn of events. Do you think they have a standard "We ****ed up" template or do you think they have their lack of communications department make one up for each of the times they get it wrong.

Now we need apologies for the ADSL regulations, the number portability delays, the handset subsidy regulations, the third cellular licence, the delays in licensing the SNO and the list goes on and on and on...
 
Icasa councillor Robert Nkuna, one of the six who made the decision, said: “We have reflected on the matter. It was wrong. A decision was made and it will never happen again.”
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the only way i think it will be guaranteed not to happen again is if they fire this lot. they just think they can screw up and still have plenty of replays, with a bottomless pit of R5mil bills to go with it.

and you thought that money doesnt grow on trees...:rolleyes:
 
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Vodacom sale

Yeah, Yeah... same old story... Who is ruling the country, COSATU or the Goverment..and ICASA been manipulated by a darn union ... We got the tail wagging the dog here.
 
It also emerged that greater parliamentary oversight will now be exercised over the oft-criticised regulator.
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What worries me is the greater parliamentary oversight... What happened to the independence?
 
pope24 said:
Now we need apologies for the ADSL regulations, the number portability delays, the handset subsidy regulations, the third cellular licence, the delays in licensing the SNO and the list goes on and on and on...
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The failure to take Telkom to task after the price cap pricing stuff-up 2001; the LLU delays and alleged plagiarism therein; the failure to settle the matter of that missing R100k (2006) [the culprit who is allegedly now working for the national treasury (:eek:)]; the 18 months it took to issue the scant and nonsensical ADSL regulations; the fact that after the days and days of public hearings to the ADSL regulations, the writing thereof was then outsourced to people who weren't even present (:eek:); the buggar-ups with issuing spectrum; the idiocy of wanting to issue spectrum on a black empowerment basis; the removal of orphanages' networks on Telkom's directions; the refusal of Paris to account for any of his stuff-ups.... yes the list goes on and on and on.
 
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dappled said:
The failure to take Telkom to task after the price cap pricing stuff-up 2001; the LLU delays and alleged plagiarism therein; the failure to settle the matter of that missing R100k (2006) [the culprit who is allegedly now working for the national treasury (:eek:)]; the 18 months it took to issue the scant and nonsensical ADSL regulations; the fact that after the days and days of public hearings to the ADSL regulations, the writing thereof was then outsourced to people who weren't even present (:eek:); the buggar-ups with issuing spectrum; the idiocy of wanting to issue spectrum on a black empowerment basis; the removal of orphanages' networks on Telkom's directions; the refusal of Paris to account for any of his stuff-ups.... yes the list goes on and on and on.
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Indeed. ICASA is (like the SABC), run by inept fools.
 
Alchemist said:
What worries me is the greater parliamentary oversight... What happened to the independence?
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The 'interference' of the oversight committee is to be welcomed. At least then other political parties get to ask questions.
 
dappled said:
The 'interference' of the oversight committee is to be welcomed. At least then other political parties get to ask questions.
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True. Oversight and interference are two different things. The only organization to keep and eye on a defaulting ICASA is parliament. Unfortunately. We have to hope parliament doesn't stuff up this one like the did in the past.

This oversight was supposded to have always been there in the first place.
 
The oversight committee does engage with ICASA principles in hearings, but rarely where the focus is on ICASA the organisation itself. The oversight committee also tends to take a forward-looking outlook ("well what's done is done, let's get on with it"), which is not necessarily a bad thing, but what is bad is that they never hold the wrong-doers accountable. The oversight committee should have recommended Paris Mashile for removal from his position long ago, as they should have done with Mamodupi Mohlala (since left to milk another govt dept) for her multiple transgressions as councillor.

The weighted ANC majorities in committee means opposition could never bring about the forced resignation of any of the ICASA principles, and the ANC members aren't going to reign in one of their own unless directed to by Luthuli House.
 
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