An investigation by the National Consumer Commission into MTN’s subscriber agreements and service quality was unlawful, the cellular operator argued before the National Consumer Tribunal on Friday. It also said a compliance notice issued to MTN by the consumer watchdog was sent to the wrong party. The hearing is the first under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), which was implemented in April last year.
MTN is challenging a compliance order notice it received compelling it to amend its subscriber agreements and align its practices with the act. The commission has asked for a fine of 10 percent of MTN’s 2011 turnover if it is found guilty of contravening sections of the act.
Robby Coelho, a partner at law firm Webber Wentzel representing MTN, said the commission had acted beyond the powers granted by the act and therefore its investigation was unlawful. MTN said the commission had ruled against it based on an incorrect and outdated subscriber agreement even though it had implemented a new CPA-compliant contract.
Mamodupi Mohlala, the national consumer commissioner, said at the time the notice was issued in August that MTN’s amended customer contract was not yet in effect, which it should have been from April 1. Mohlala said the new contract still did not comply with section 63 of the act because it did not guarantee quality of service targets and make pricing transparent.
Advocate Alfred Cockerill, representing MTN, argued that the commission had incorrectly issued the compliance notice to MTN instead of MTN Service Provider. “If we are correct, and we believe we are, then that’s the end of the matter. The entire compliance notice (would be) invalid,” Coelho said.
Mohlala said, however, that MTN, the mother body, was licensed to provide telecoms services and not its subsidiary, MTN Service Provider, and if the latter was reprimanded then “the consumer doesn’t have recourse”. “We have also noted, in terms of their contract provision of network services, the subsidiary is not licensed to provide network services,” she said.
The tribunal did not specify a date for judgment. Hearings have also been set for other companies, including Vodacom, Cell C and TopTV.
Source: madeasy.co.za
Showing posts with label Mamodupi Mohlala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mamodupi Mohlala. Show all posts
Monday, January 23, 2012
Thursday, November 3, 2011
South Africa: Consumers Must Be Taught About Their Rights
There is a need for consumers to be taught more about their consumer rights and the Consumer Protection Act, says Minister in the Presidency: National Planning Commission Trevor Manuel. Speaking at the 2011 Consumer Rights Conference held in Midrand today, Manuel said many families were in debt because they lacked knowledge on financial issues. "We need to understand what the Consumer Protection Act is all about," he said, adding that government needed to drive consumer education vigorously.
Manuel cautioned that people should only borrow what they can afford. There were 18.84 million credit active people in South Africa and about 8.8 million of this figure were described as having impaired credit. National Consumer Commissioner, Mamodupi Mohlala, urged consumers who have had their rights violated or ignored to contact her office. She said on average, her office received about 7 000 complaints per month - the bulk of which was from the motor industry, followed by complaints about telecommunications tariffs and handsets.
Mohlala said the complaints in the motor industry were mostly from clients who bought cars thinking the vehicles were new only to discover that they actually bought old cars. "Incorrect prices and failure to adhere to the Consumer Act by the sellers keeps us on our toes as we deal with such complaints daily," she said.
She urged consumers that when lodging their complaints, they must provide full details as this helps to speed-up the processes of finding a solution to their problems.
Source: All Africa
Manuel cautioned that people should only borrow what they can afford. There were 18.84 million credit active people in South Africa and about 8.8 million of this figure were described as having impaired credit. National Consumer Commissioner, Mamodupi Mohlala, urged consumers who have had their rights violated or ignored to contact her office. She said on average, her office received about 7 000 complaints per month - the bulk of which was from the motor industry, followed by complaints about telecommunications tariffs and handsets.
Mohlala said the complaints in the motor industry were mostly from clients who bought cars thinking the vehicles were new only to discover that they actually bought old cars. "Incorrect prices and failure to adhere to the Consumer Act by the sellers keeps us on our toes as we deal with such complaints daily," she said.
She urged consumers that when lodging their complaints, they must provide full details as this helps to speed-up the processes of finding a solution to their problems.
Source: All Africa
Monday, October 17, 2011
No hope for 'crashed' Blackberry users
A LEGAL expert believes that BlackBerry users are unlikely to find consumer protection as underlined by national consumer commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala last week. The crash of the phone's e-mail and messenger services began last Monday, affecting users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, and spreading to North America by Tuesday. Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind BlackBerry smartphones said the problem was sorted on Thursday.
Commissioner Mohlala said consumers would find protection under sections 55, 56 and 61 of the Consumer Protection Act, which provides rights on the quality of goods, and liability for damage caused by goods.
However, Albert Aukema, associate in the competition practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr underlined the difference between goods and services, saying the outage was a services issue. "Although the scope of these sections have yet to be interpreted by the courts, it is unlikely that such a challenge would be in line with the provisions of the CPA. "If anything, the interruptions should accurately be categorised as impacting on the quality of the service being rendered to consumers," said Aukema. "The interruption appears to have been unrelated to defects in the handsets supplied to consumers as part of the service offering."
Meanwhile, a number of SA-based mobile operators (MTN R10 to each customer and Vodacom 20 minutes of calls and 20 SMS's on Vodacom to Vodacom service) moved to provide some form of compensation to BlackBerry customers, "as a token of goodwill".
Source: Mail & Guardian
Notes:
In the article above, it is mentioned that "Commissioner Mohlala said consumers would find protection under sections 55, 56 and 61 of the Consumer Protection Act ("the act"), which provides rights on the quality of goods, and liability for damage caused by goods." It is also mentioned that "it is unlikely that ... a challenge would be in line with the provisions of the CPA. ... If anything, the interruptions should accurately be categorised as impacting on the quality of the service being rendered to consumers."
Legislation must be interpreted to promote the spirit, purport and objects of the Bill of Rights. Interpretation and application of the law under the Constitution is never a mechanical application of rules; it always involves a value judgment. Our Constitution and law are infused with moral values. The days of denying the value-laden content of law are long gone. See Maphango and Others v Aengus Lifestyle Properties (Pty) Ltd (CCT 57/11) [2012] ZACC 2 (13 March 2012) at 151.
In our view, it is important to read the provisions in Part H (fair value, quality and safety) of the act as a whole to intepret any provision contained in that part.
It is similarly important to apply a purposive interpretation to the provisions. By applying such an interpretation, it is important to read Chapter 1 of the act, which deals with the interpretation, purpose and application of the act. It is thus incorrect to apply a mechanical application of traditional (un-transformed) rules of interpretation.
Chapter 2 of the act deals with fundamental consumer rights. The chapter is divided into parts, each part dealing with an aspect of as the consumer's right as follows:
Part A: The right of equality in the consumer market
Part B: The right to privacy
Part C: The right to choose
Part D: The right to disclose and information
Part E: The right to fair and responsible marketing
Part F: The right to fair and honest dealings
Part G: The right to fair, just and reasonable terms and conditions
Part H: The right to fair value, quality and safety
Part I: The right to accountability
Section 55 of the the act deals with the consumer's right to safe, good quality goods. Section 56 deals with the implied warranty of quality of goods supplied.
Section 61 of the the act deals with liability for damage caused by goods. The section provides that "the producer or importer, distributor or retailer of any goods is liable for any harm ... caused wholly or partly as a consequence of -
(a) supplying any unsafe goods;
(b) a product failure, defect or hazard in any goods; or
(c) inadequate instructions or warnings provided to the consumer pertaining to any hazard arising from or associated with the use of any goods,irrespective of whether the harm resulted from any negligence on the part of the producer, importer, distributor or retailer, as the case may be."
Section 61(2) of the act provides that "a supplier of services who, in conjunction with the performance of those services, applies, supplies, installs or provides access to any goods, must be regarded as a supplier of those goods to the consumer, for the purposes of this section."
Section 61(5) of the act provides that "[h]arm for which a person may be held liable in terms of this section includes -
(a) the death of, or injury to, any natural person;
(b) an illness of any natural person;
(c) any loss of, or physical damage to any property, irrespective of whether it is movable or immovable; and
(d) any economic loss that results from harm contemplated in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).
It is important to note that the article above ommits a reference to section 54 of the act, which deals with the consumer's right to demand quality service. The section reads as follows:
"(1) When a supplier undertakes to perform any services for or on behalf of a consumer, the consumer has a right to-
(a) the timely performance and completion of those services, and timely notice of any unavoidable delay in the performance of the services;
(b) the performance of the services in a manner and quality that persons are generally entitled to expect;
(c) the use, delivery or installation of goods that are free of defects and of a quality that persons are generally entitled to expect, if any such goods are required for performance of the services; and
(d) the return of any property or control over any property of the consumer in at least as good a condition as it was when the consumer made it available to the supplier for the purpose of performing such services, having regard to the circumstances of the supply, and any specific criteria or conditions agreed between the supplier and the consumer before or during the performance of the services.
(2) If a supplier fails to perform a service to the standards contemplated in subsection (1), the consumer may require the supplier to either-
(a) remedy any defect in the quality of the services performed or goods supplied; or
(b) refund to the consumer a reasonable portion of the price paid for the services performed and goods supplied, having regard to the extent of the failure."
We therefore do not agree with Albert Aukema, associate in the competition practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, that "it is unlikely that ... a challenge would be in line with the provisions of the [act]." It is apparent that Aukema has applied on outdated rule of interpretation in his analysis of the act.
Whilst the interpretation of the act by Aukema may favour the service provider, at the prejudice of the consumer, it is unlikely to find favour with a transformed court that promotes the spirit, purport and objects of the Bill of Rights, contained within the Consititution of South Africa.
Commissioner Mohlala said consumers would find protection under sections 55, 56 and 61 of the Consumer Protection Act, which provides rights on the quality of goods, and liability for damage caused by goods.
However, Albert Aukema, associate in the competition practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr underlined the difference between goods and services, saying the outage was a services issue. "Although the scope of these sections have yet to be interpreted by the courts, it is unlikely that such a challenge would be in line with the provisions of the CPA. "If anything, the interruptions should accurately be categorised as impacting on the quality of the service being rendered to consumers," said Aukema. "The interruption appears to have been unrelated to defects in the handsets supplied to consumers as part of the service offering."
Meanwhile, a number of SA-based mobile operators (MTN R10 to each customer and Vodacom 20 minutes of calls and 20 SMS's on Vodacom to Vodacom service) moved to provide some form of compensation to BlackBerry customers, "as a token of goodwill".
Source: Mail & Guardian
Notes:
In the article above, it is mentioned that "Commissioner Mohlala said consumers would find protection under sections 55, 56 and 61 of the Consumer Protection Act ("the act"), which provides rights on the quality of goods, and liability for damage caused by goods." It is also mentioned that "it is unlikely that ... a challenge would be in line with the provisions of the CPA. ... If anything, the interruptions should accurately be categorised as impacting on the quality of the service being rendered to consumers."
Legislation must be interpreted to promote the spirit, purport and objects of the Bill of Rights. Interpretation and application of the law under the Constitution is never a mechanical application of rules; it always involves a value judgment. Our Constitution and law are infused with moral values. The days of denying the value-laden content of law are long gone. See Maphango and Others v Aengus Lifestyle Properties (Pty) Ltd (CCT 57/11) [2012] ZACC 2 (13 March 2012) at 151.
In our view, it is important to read the provisions in Part H (fair value, quality and safety) of the act as a whole to intepret any provision contained in that part.
It is similarly important to apply a purposive interpretation to the provisions. By applying such an interpretation, it is important to read Chapter 1 of the act, which deals with the interpretation, purpose and application of the act. It is thus incorrect to apply a mechanical application of traditional (un-transformed) rules of interpretation.
Chapter 2 of the act deals with fundamental consumer rights. The chapter is divided into parts, each part dealing with an aspect of as the consumer's right as follows:
Part A: The right of equality in the consumer market
Part B: The right to privacy
Part C: The right to choose
Part D: The right to disclose and information
Part E: The right to fair and responsible marketing
Part F: The right to fair and honest dealings
Part G: The right to fair, just and reasonable terms and conditions
Part H: The right to fair value, quality and safety
Part I: The right to accountability
Section 55 of the the act deals with the consumer's right to safe, good quality goods. Section 56 deals with the implied warranty of quality of goods supplied.
Section 61 of the the act deals with liability for damage caused by goods. The section provides that "the producer or importer, distributor or retailer of any goods is liable for any harm ... caused wholly or partly as a consequence of -
(a) supplying any unsafe goods;
(b) a product failure, defect or hazard in any goods; or
(c) inadequate instructions or warnings provided to the consumer pertaining to any hazard arising from or associated with the use of any goods,irrespective of whether the harm resulted from any negligence on the part of the producer, importer, distributor or retailer, as the case may be."
Section 61(2) of the act provides that "a supplier of services who, in conjunction with the performance of those services, applies, supplies, installs or provides access to any goods, must be regarded as a supplier of those goods to the consumer, for the purposes of this section."
Section 61(5) of the act provides that "[h]arm for which a person may be held liable in terms of this section includes -
(a) the death of, or injury to, any natural person;
(b) an illness of any natural person;
(c) any loss of, or physical damage to any property, irrespective of whether it is movable or immovable; and
(d) any economic loss that results from harm contemplated in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).
It is important to note that the article above ommits a reference to section 54 of the act, which deals with the consumer's right to demand quality service. The section reads as follows:
"(1) When a supplier undertakes to perform any services for or on behalf of a consumer, the consumer has a right to-
(a) the timely performance and completion of those services, and timely notice of any unavoidable delay in the performance of the services;
(b) the performance of the services in a manner and quality that persons are generally entitled to expect;
(c) the use, delivery or installation of goods that are free of defects and of a quality that persons are generally entitled to expect, if any such goods are required for performance of the services; and
(d) the return of any property or control over any property of the consumer in at least as good a condition as it was when the consumer made it available to the supplier for the purpose of performing such services, having regard to the circumstances of the supply, and any specific criteria or conditions agreed between the supplier and the consumer before or during the performance of the services.
(2) If a supplier fails to perform a service to the standards contemplated in subsection (1), the consumer may require the supplier to either-
(a) remedy any defect in the quality of the services performed or goods supplied; or
(b) refund to the consumer a reasonable portion of the price paid for the services performed and goods supplied, having regard to the extent of the failure."
We therefore do not agree with Albert Aukema, associate in the competition practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, that "it is unlikely that ... a challenge would be in line with the provisions of the [act]." It is apparent that Aukema has applied on outdated rule of interpretation in his analysis of the act.
Whilst the interpretation of the act by Aukema may favour the service provider, at the prejudice of the consumer, it is unlikely to find favour with a transformed court that promotes the spirit, purport and objects of the Bill of Rights, contained within the Consititution of South Africa.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Operators face showdown at the consumer corral
The National Consumer Commission, established in April to enforce the new Consumer Protection Act, has received objections from all of SA’s big operators, with the exception of Neotel, to the compliance notices it served on them demanding they make the terms of their contracts clearer to consumers.
Head of the commission, Mamodupi Mohlala, initially set a deadline of mid-September for operators to comply with its demands for transparency in advertising, non-automatic renewal of contracts and the ability for consumers to cancel contracts by giving 20 days’ notice, as stipulated by the act. To date, only Neotel has agreed to amend its contracts.
Vodacom recently expressed its opposition to the compliance notices, claiming it was already in talks with the commission regarding amendments to its contracts and advertising. The company’s chief officer for corporate affairs, Portia Maurice, said recently the company was “surprised” to receive a compliance notice because it “already had an amendment process underway and had agreed with [the commission to] an implementation date of 31 October”.
Mohlala says the commission received objection notices from Cell C and MTN on Wednesday, and that it expected objections from Telkom and its mobile arm, 8ta, to follow. The commission has been arguing with Vodacom about issues of quality of service for some time. “In terms of section 54 of the act, which deals with issues of quality of service, a consumer is entitled to receive goods or services at levels to which that consumer is accustomed, or at the levels as stipulated in the consumer’s contract,” Mohlala tells TechCentral.
She says the issue is of growing relevance in light of Vodacom’s recent network failure and the furore earlier this week regarding its announcement that it would be throttling data speeds of heavy users of the BlackBerry Internet Service. Vodacom has since backtracked on its stated plans, with group CEO Pieter Uys blaming miscommunication by its corporate communications department. “In terms of these compliance notices, we as the commission are saying there must be some guarantees with regards to quality of service. Currently, as the operators’ contracts stand, there are no guarantees,” says Mohlala.
She says consumers are expected to “hold up their end of the agreements” by paying for services and paying additional fees in the case of premium services, but there “are no reciprocal guarantees from network operators around quality of service”.
The consumer act specifies that in the event that an operator does not meet the “particular quality-of-service levels that are outlined in a contact”, then the it “must offer the affected consumer a remedy”, she says. If not, “the consumer is entitled to a refund to the extent that they have not received the guaranteed services or quality of service. Consumers must be compensated when operators don’t meet their obligations.”
According to Mohlala, operators have “exclusive control over issues of network coverage and quality of service” and therefore need to give “some sort of commitment to consumers who are paying a lot for those services”.
She says the compliance notices served on the operators also deal with the provisions of section 14 of the act. This refers to the bundling of services. The act says the “bundling of services is not prohibited, but operators must clearly show the benefits of a bundled service to consumers. Over and above that, they must show the financial benefits to the consumer.”
Under the act, operators are obliged to make explicit and explain “in simple terms” what the unbundled costs of a service would be when compared to the bundled offering. “The obvious argument operators are going to put forward is that they don’t have absolute control over the services or over the full value chain of bundled services,” she says. “But we are saying to some extent, in relation to the product and services that they do offer, they have exclusive control over airtime [and] they have a responsibility to demonstrate the benefits of the various elements of the bundled service.”
Mothibi Ramusi, Cell C’s executive head of regulatory affairs, says the company objected to notice it received because it believes there was “no merit in issuing a compliance notice as Cell C’s subscriber agreement is compliant with the act”.
Vodacom’s Maurice says the operator intends to “address the matter” of the compliance notice it received “directly with the commission”. And Robert Madzonga, chief corporate services officer at MTN SA, says the compliance notice called for it to “adopt wording proposed by the commission” in its contracts and that it has “formally objected to the notice on various legitimate grounds”.
“MTN has asked the [national consumer] tribunal to set the notice aside,” Madzonga says. “Amongst other things, MTN contends the notice was issued at a time when the subscriber agreement was in fact compliant; that the notice is based on an outdated and incorrect version of the subscriber agreement; and that the wording proposed in the notice is inappropriate.”
He says that should the tribunal refuse to set aside the notice, “MTN has asked that the terms of the notice ought to be varied so as to allow a proper timeframe for compliance”.
Source: — Craig Wilson, TechCentral
Head of the commission, Mamodupi Mohlala, initially set a deadline of mid-September for operators to comply with its demands for transparency in advertising, non-automatic renewal of contracts and the ability for consumers to cancel contracts by giving 20 days’ notice, as stipulated by the act. To date, only Neotel has agreed to amend its contracts.
Vodacom recently expressed its opposition to the compliance notices, claiming it was already in talks with the commission regarding amendments to its contracts and advertising. The company’s chief officer for corporate affairs, Portia Maurice, said recently the company was “surprised” to receive a compliance notice because it “already had an amendment process underway and had agreed with [the commission to] an implementation date of 31 October”.
Mohlala says the commission received objection notices from Cell C and MTN on Wednesday, and that it expected objections from Telkom and its mobile arm, 8ta, to follow. The commission has been arguing with Vodacom about issues of quality of service for some time. “In terms of section 54 of the act, which deals with issues of quality of service, a consumer is entitled to receive goods or services at levels to which that consumer is accustomed, or at the levels as stipulated in the consumer’s contract,” Mohlala tells TechCentral.
She says the issue is of growing relevance in light of Vodacom’s recent network failure and the furore earlier this week regarding its announcement that it would be throttling data speeds of heavy users of the BlackBerry Internet Service. Vodacom has since backtracked on its stated plans, with group CEO Pieter Uys blaming miscommunication by its corporate communications department. “In terms of these compliance notices, we as the commission are saying there must be some guarantees with regards to quality of service. Currently, as the operators’ contracts stand, there are no guarantees,” says Mohlala.
She says consumers are expected to “hold up their end of the agreements” by paying for services and paying additional fees in the case of premium services, but there “are no reciprocal guarantees from network operators around quality of service”.
The consumer act specifies that in the event that an operator does not meet the “particular quality-of-service levels that are outlined in a contact”, then the it “must offer the affected consumer a remedy”, she says. If not, “the consumer is entitled to a refund to the extent that they have not received the guaranteed services or quality of service. Consumers must be compensated when operators don’t meet their obligations.”
According to Mohlala, operators have “exclusive control over issues of network coverage and quality of service” and therefore need to give “some sort of commitment to consumers who are paying a lot for those services”.
She says the compliance notices served on the operators also deal with the provisions of section 14 of the act. This refers to the bundling of services. The act says the “bundling of services is not prohibited, but operators must clearly show the benefits of a bundled service to consumers. Over and above that, they must show the financial benefits to the consumer.”
Under the act, operators are obliged to make explicit and explain “in simple terms” what the unbundled costs of a service would be when compared to the bundled offering. “The obvious argument operators are going to put forward is that they don’t have absolute control over the services or over the full value chain of bundled services,” she says. “But we are saying to some extent, in relation to the product and services that they do offer, they have exclusive control over airtime [and] they have a responsibility to demonstrate the benefits of the various elements of the bundled service.”
Mothibi Ramusi, Cell C’s executive head of regulatory affairs, says the company objected to notice it received because it believes there was “no merit in issuing a compliance notice as Cell C’s subscriber agreement is compliant with the act”.
Vodacom’s Maurice says the operator intends to “address the matter” of the compliance notice it received “directly with the commission”. And Robert Madzonga, chief corporate services officer at MTN SA, says the compliance notice called for it to “adopt wording proposed by the commission” in its contracts and that it has “formally objected to the notice on various legitimate grounds”.
“MTN has asked the [national consumer] tribunal to set the notice aside,” Madzonga says. “Amongst other things, MTN contends the notice was issued at a time when the subscriber agreement was in fact compliant; that the notice is based on an outdated and incorrect version of the subscriber agreement; and that the wording proposed in the notice is inappropriate.”
He says that should the tribunal refuse to set aside the notice, “MTN has asked that the terms of the notice ought to be varied so as to allow a proper timeframe for compliance”.
Source: — Craig Wilson, TechCentral
Saturday, August 13, 2011
A cellular licence to print money
The proverbial licence to print money is not the chain of casinos or bottle stores of a generation ago. It’s the telecommunications company, exploiting the now universal desire for people to be online and electronically in touch. This is a sector that generates massive revenues. Vodacom, South Africa’s biggest network provider with 26.6-million customers, in the past year turned over R54bn and almost doubled its net profits to R8bn. International player MTN, with 18.8m local subscribers, increased profits by 20% and had SA revenues of around R37bn.
This is also the sector that draws the most consumer complaints, along with the pharmaceutical/healthcare industries, retail and banking. It is then logical that the new National Consumer Commissioner, Mamodupi Mohlala, targeted telecommunication providers as a priority in implementing the recently passed Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
One of Mohlala’s first acts was to force SA’s four cellular network operators and two fixed-line providers to bring their customer contracts in line with the CPA. Despite knowing the intentions of the Act for five years, not a single one was compliant and, in most cases, 75% of their cellphone contracts were in breach.
Basically these companies were quite happy to take advantage of consumers – many illiterate and poor, and for whom a cellphone is a necessity that comes at a disproportionately large monthly cost – for as long as they could get away with. Since then Vodacom has come under further pressure from the commissioner, who ruled that it should compensate those of its subscribers who suffered financial loss when the Vodacom network collapsed a few months back. Vodacom has point-blank refused to comply. As an aside, Vodacom’s media liaison division failed to respond to repeated calls from this writer. Ironically, this is the company that sponsors an annual series of journalism awards.
Given the greed and arrogance that prevails, it should then come as no surprise that the cellular providers have since lobbied to be exempted from the CPA, on the grounds that they are already regulated by the Independent Communication Authority (Icasa). Fat lot of good Icasa would be. Writing in Business Report a few months ago, economic empowerment strategist Thabo Masombuko outlined a stinging assessment of ICASA’s consumer policing abilities, which have made the sector “a haven for tariff looting, exorbitant charges and ridiculous costs … While costs have ballooned, cellular and landline services have become an out-of-reach pie in the sky for millions of users.”
There is an established pattern to this. When cellular licences were first issued to Vodacom and MTN, part of their obligation was the rolling out of rural coverage as a development of national infrastructural that it was hoped would improve the countryside’s potential to create jobs. Unfortunately, it was an obligation only scrappily met, given the lure of lucrative urban rollouts — and the lovely tax from the resultantly dazzling profits — with the result two decades later of unreliable, low-speed rural coverage.
Nor has state entity Telkom, met its statutory obligation to provide countrywide communication systems. Faced with endemic cable theft, the Telkom’s outrageous solution has been simply to cut off both telephone and landline broadband services in rural areas, in favour of a wireless voice service that verges on the useless, in the view of its critics. By the Telkom example, this week’s theft of cabling serving the Gautrain would be dealt with by mothballing the service and suggesting that passengers use taxis instead.
The opportunity costs of these failures are enormous. The World Bank estimates that a 10% increase in broadband penetration delivers a 1.3% rise in economic growth. Is is however an unpalatable fact that in SA, just a dozen or so kilometres outside of the major cities and towns, broadband access is virtually unobtainable. And when available, SA’s mobile broadband remains prohibitively expensive, among the dearest in the world. This inertia and indifference by both the private sector and the state, impacts directly on government’s objective of providing the infrastructural backbone that will allow local communities to grow local jobs, instead of encouraging a growing flow of job seekers to the cities.
When Roy Padayachie took over the long-neglected Communications portfolio he set as his ministerial goal to partner with the private sector to harness telecommunications technology to economic growth. It’s a laudable but unrealisable dream, unless he can get the cellular providers to take their developmental responsibilities a little more seriously.
Source: Mail & Guardian Thought Leader: William Sauderson-Meyer
This is also the sector that draws the most consumer complaints, along with the pharmaceutical/healthcare industries, retail and banking. It is then logical that the new National Consumer Commissioner, Mamodupi Mohlala, targeted telecommunication providers as a priority in implementing the recently passed Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
One of Mohlala’s first acts was to force SA’s four cellular network operators and two fixed-line providers to bring their customer contracts in line with the CPA. Despite knowing the intentions of the Act for five years, not a single one was compliant and, in most cases, 75% of their cellphone contracts were in breach.
Basically these companies were quite happy to take advantage of consumers – many illiterate and poor, and for whom a cellphone is a necessity that comes at a disproportionately large monthly cost – for as long as they could get away with. Since then Vodacom has come under further pressure from the commissioner, who ruled that it should compensate those of its subscribers who suffered financial loss when the Vodacom network collapsed a few months back. Vodacom has point-blank refused to comply. As an aside, Vodacom’s media liaison division failed to respond to repeated calls from this writer. Ironically, this is the company that sponsors an annual series of journalism awards.
Given the greed and arrogance that prevails, it should then come as no surprise that the cellular providers have since lobbied to be exempted from the CPA, on the grounds that they are already regulated by the Independent Communication Authority (Icasa). Fat lot of good Icasa would be. Writing in Business Report a few months ago, economic empowerment strategist Thabo Masombuko outlined a stinging assessment of ICASA’s consumer policing abilities, which have made the sector “a haven for tariff looting, exorbitant charges and ridiculous costs … While costs have ballooned, cellular and landline services have become an out-of-reach pie in the sky for millions of users.”
There is an established pattern to this. When cellular licences were first issued to Vodacom and MTN, part of their obligation was the rolling out of rural coverage as a development of national infrastructural that it was hoped would improve the countryside’s potential to create jobs. Unfortunately, it was an obligation only scrappily met, given the lure of lucrative urban rollouts — and the lovely tax from the resultantly dazzling profits — with the result two decades later of unreliable, low-speed rural coverage.
Nor has state entity Telkom, met its statutory obligation to provide countrywide communication systems. Faced with endemic cable theft, the Telkom’s outrageous solution has been simply to cut off both telephone and landline broadband services in rural areas, in favour of a wireless voice service that verges on the useless, in the view of its critics. By the Telkom example, this week’s theft of cabling serving the Gautrain would be dealt with by mothballing the service and suggesting that passengers use taxis instead.
The opportunity costs of these failures are enormous. The World Bank estimates that a 10% increase in broadband penetration delivers a 1.3% rise in economic growth. Is is however an unpalatable fact that in SA, just a dozen or so kilometres outside of the major cities and towns, broadband access is virtually unobtainable. And when available, SA’s mobile broadband remains prohibitively expensive, among the dearest in the world. This inertia and indifference by both the private sector and the state, impacts directly on government’s objective of providing the infrastructural backbone that will allow local communities to grow local jobs, instead of encouraging a growing flow of job seekers to the cities.
When Roy Padayachie took over the long-neglected Communications portfolio he set as his ministerial goal to partner with the private sector to harness telecommunications technology to economic growth. It’s a laudable but unrealisable dream, unless he can get the cellular providers to take their developmental responsibilities a little more seriously.
Source: Mail & Guardian Thought Leader: William Sauderson-Meyer
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Cellphone companies still selling hot air
The cellphone networks, which do rather well out of our collective obsession with staying connected via our ever-more-clever handsets, have been disappointingly slow to embrace aspects of the Consumer Protection Act which don’t suit them. Chief among these is the stipulation that all pre-paid vouchers must be honoured for up to three years. That means that any goods or services you pay for in advance – from a bus coupon to a facial to cellphone airtime – must be redeemed within three years of the date of purchase, and companies no longer have the right to tell you one or three months down the line “sorry, it’s expired, you forfeit”.
The cellphone companies appear to be carrying on regardless, in this and other respects, while promising the National Consumer Commission that they’ll get their act together within three months. Jerry Buirski told Consumer watch as he approached the Cape by sea last week that he noticed he had Vodacom’s 3G signal, so he powered up his laptop and prepared to send a month’s worth of e-mails. “However, I found I’d lost all my unused data on June 30. This does not seem right at all.”
National Consumer Commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala has recently publicly repeated the commission’s stance that all pre-paid airtime and data must be redeemable for up to three years in terms of the CPA. Asked to respond to Buirski’s experience, Vodacom’s chief officer of corporate affairs, Portia Maurice, said: “The commissioner has requested us to investigate this aspect of the act and present further submissions in support of our current business practices. We are currently reviewing this and will provide a response to the commissioner.”
Last month, when questioned on the premature expiry of pre-paid data, Vodacom told Consumer Watch: “When customers purchase data bundles, funds are deducted from their airtime in return for access to data bundles. So they are deemed to have exchanged the value of their prepaid airtime for access to data bundles. “There’s a difference between a voucher and a product bought by that voucher. The three-year expiry rule refers to vouchers and not to products purchased by vouchers.”
But Mohlala doesn’t agree with this interpretation, insisting that pre-paid data may not “expire” within three years of purchase. “We’ve had long discussions with the industry and I’ve made it clear that if they are not willing to come to the party on this and other issues of compliance with the act, we have the power to issue a compliance notice,” Mohlala said.
The ultimate sanction, in terms of the CPA, is a fine of R1 million or 10 percent of annual turnover. But subscribers continue to be deprived of cell products they’ve paid for a few months previously. Gary Cousins told Consumer Watch that he bought R300 of airtime for his teenage son in early March which was loaded on to his (son’s) number. But by early June, three months later, despite having used only about half that amount, his son was unable to send SMSes. “I suspected that the remaining airtime had been ‘removed’, so I sent him another R50 on July 10, and his phone immediately started sending SMSes,” Cousins said. “A balance enquiry showed R50 airtime remaining.”
So I asked Cell C: “Is it true that by early June the unused portion of that R300 airtime ‘expired’? “If so, how is this justified?” This was the response I got: “Icasa (the Independent Communications Authority of SA) is in the process of applying to the National Consumer Commission for an exemption with regards to this aspect of the act. Until the process is complete, Cell C cannot comment on the matter.”
Interestingly, Icasa’s concern about the CPA’s provision that pre-paid vouchers be redeemable by consumers for up to three years has to do with the recycling of numbers. But Icasa is not in favour of consumers losing out on pre-paid airtime and data. Icasa councillor Fungai Sibanda told Consumer Watch: “Icasa is of the view that consumers must be protected with respect to unused credit, whilst at the same time allowing inactive numbers to be recycled.” But right now pre-paid cellphone users are continuing to be “robbed” of their unused airtime and data – almost four months after the CPA came into effect.
Source: IoL
The cellphone companies appear to be carrying on regardless, in this and other respects, while promising the National Consumer Commission that they’ll get their act together within three months. Jerry Buirski told Consumer watch as he approached the Cape by sea last week that he noticed he had Vodacom’s 3G signal, so he powered up his laptop and prepared to send a month’s worth of e-mails. “However, I found I’d lost all my unused data on June 30. This does not seem right at all.”
National Consumer Commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala has recently publicly repeated the commission’s stance that all pre-paid airtime and data must be redeemable for up to three years in terms of the CPA. Asked to respond to Buirski’s experience, Vodacom’s chief officer of corporate affairs, Portia Maurice, said: “The commissioner has requested us to investigate this aspect of the act and present further submissions in support of our current business practices. We are currently reviewing this and will provide a response to the commissioner.”
Last month, when questioned on the premature expiry of pre-paid data, Vodacom told Consumer Watch: “When customers purchase data bundles, funds are deducted from their airtime in return for access to data bundles. So they are deemed to have exchanged the value of their prepaid airtime for access to data bundles. “There’s a difference between a voucher and a product bought by that voucher. The three-year expiry rule refers to vouchers and not to products purchased by vouchers.”
But Mohlala doesn’t agree with this interpretation, insisting that pre-paid data may not “expire” within three years of purchase. “We’ve had long discussions with the industry and I’ve made it clear that if they are not willing to come to the party on this and other issues of compliance with the act, we have the power to issue a compliance notice,” Mohlala said.
The ultimate sanction, in terms of the CPA, is a fine of R1 million or 10 percent of annual turnover. But subscribers continue to be deprived of cell products they’ve paid for a few months previously. Gary Cousins told Consumer Watch that he bought R300 of airtime for his teenage son in early March which was loaded on to his (son’s) number. But by early June, three months later, despite having used only about half that amount, his son was unable to send SMSes. “I suspected that the remaining airtime had been ‘removed’, so I sent him another R50 on July 10, and his phone immediately started sending SMSes,” Cousins said. “A balance enquiry showed R50 airtime remaining.”
So I asked Cell C: “Is it true that by early June the unused portion of that R300 airtime ‘expired’? “If so, how is this justified?” This was the response I got: “Icasa (the Independent Communications Authority of SA) is in the process of applying to the National Consumer Commission for an exemption with regards to this aspect of the act. Until the process is complete, Cell C cannot comment on the matter.”
Interestingly, Icasa’s concern about the CPA’s provision that pre-paid vouchers be redeemable by consumers for up to three years has to do with the recycling of numbers. But Icasa is not in favour of consumers losing out on pre-paid airtime and data. Icasa councillor Fungai Sibanda told Consumer Watch: “Icasa is of the view that consumers must be protected with respect to unused credit, whilst at the same time allowing inactive numbers to be recycled.” But right now pre-paid cellphone users are continuing to be “robbed” of their unused airtime and data – almost four months after the CPA came into effect.
Source: IoL
Monday, July 18, 2011
Cellphone operators told to amend contracts
South Africa's four primary cellular network operators and two fixed-line providers will have new customer contracts that are compliant with the Consumer Protection Act in place within the next three months.This came as national consumer commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala prepared to sign consent order agreements this week with each of the companies, Business Report reported on Monday. These agreements were legally binding and a fine of R1 million or 10 percent of annual turnover could be imposed if they were breached.
Mohlala said that over the past two weeks the commission had reviewed all contracts provided by the individual companies and none of the contracts were compliant with the act. This, despite the fact that it had been in the pipeline for the past five years and its implementation was postponed from September last year to April this year. She said that in most cases about 75 percent of the cellphone contract terms and conditions would have to change.
Companies would have to change their billing systems, marketing approach and their staff would have to be educated and more skilled, which would require more spending on human resources, she said. "There is nothing untoward… we are aligning South Africa with international best practice."
Mohlala said Cell C, Telkom and 8.ta would have their contracts amended by the end of September, Neotel by next month and MTN and Vodacom both expected to have amended their contracts by the end of October.
Source: Times Live
Mohlala said that over the past two weeks the commission had reviewed all contracts provided by the individual companies and none of the contracts were compliant with the act. This, despite the fact that it had been in the pipeline for the past five years and its implementation was postponed from September last year to April this year. She said that in most cases about 75 percent of the cellphone contract terms and conditions would have to change.
Companies would have to change their billing systems, marketing approach and their staff would have to be educated and more skilled, which would require more spending on human resources, she said. "There is nothing untoward… we are aligning South Africa with international best practice."
Mohlala said Cell C, Telkom and 8.ta would have their contracts amended by the end of September, Neotel by next month and MTN and Vodacom both expected to have amended their contracts by the end of October.
Source: Times Live
Friday, August 27, 2010
Nyanda drops plan to dismiss director-general
AFTER a vitriolic and public battle, Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda has withdrawn a letter of dismissal against his director-general, Mamodupi Mohlala. Gen Nyanda fired Ms Mohlala last month, saying there had been an irretrievable breakdown of trust between them. Ms Mohlala challenged her dismissal in court, arguing that Gen Nyanda did not have the authority to fire her.
She filed an affidavit detailing what appears to have been interference in her work by the minister, including the administration of tenders. Gen Nyanda failed to submit an answering affidavit. As part of the out-of-court settlement, Ms Mohlala will be paid her full salary and benefits but will take leave with effect from yesterday, until September 27. This leave will allow Public Services and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi to seek an alternative and equal post for her within the government, including in state-owned enterprises.
If Mr Baloyi fails to do so , Ms Mohlala will return to the Department of Communications. Gen Nyanda will also pay Ms Modupi’s legal costs. Yesterday Ms Mohlala said the withdrawal of her dismissal and the settlement meant she had been “vindicated” and that there was acknowledgement her dismissal did not follow proper procedure. “I’m happy and satisfied that the matter has been settled and (I thank) the president and Mr Baloyi for their intervention. But we cannot ignore what happened between me and the minister. We are exploring other options in the interest of the department,” she said. Asked if she would return to the department if not deployed elsewhere, Ms Mohlala declined to say.
During the first court appearance last month, President Jacob Zuma requested that Mr Baloyi intervene in the matter outside court proceedings. Ms Mohlala was offered a R2,9m settlement but refused, demanding to be redeployed to a post of equal standing.
Gen Nyanda’s spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso said yesterday the agreement did not imply the immediate reinstatement of the former director-general to her old position. He said this arrangement allowed what Ms Mohlala had initially requested from the president to take effect. “As (the) ministry we welcome the agreement as it paves a way for the filling of the position as soon as possible by a suitable and relevant person with the necessary expertise,” he said. Mr Rikhotso said the settlement was done in order to reinstate Ms Mohlala as a public servant. Consequently, Mr Baloyi would explore suitable options in order to address this matter.
The fight between Ms Mohlala and Gen Nyanda broke into the open last month. The pair failed to settle the dispute amicably and their impasse has paralysed the department, with staff morale said to have collapsed, with no collective sense of purpose. Some of Gen Nyanda’s complaints against Ms Mohlala included her hiring people from the private sector to handle department al finances. She was also accused of breaching the minister’s confidence on delicate matters involving Sentech, the state-owned signal distributor. Ms Mohlala complained about Gen Nyanda’s “interference” in tenders, saying this violated the Public Finance Management Act.
Source: Business Day
She filed an affidavit detailing what appears to have been interference in her work by the minister, including the administration of tenders. Gen Nyanda failed to submit an answering affidavit. As part of the out-of-court settlement, Ms Mohlala will be paid her full salary and benefits but will take leave with effect from yesterday, until September 27. This leave will allow Public Services and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi to seek an alternative and equal post for her within the government, including in state-owned enterprises.
If Mr Baloyi fails to do so , Ms Mohlala will return to the Department of Communications. Gen Nyanda will also pay Ms Modupi’s legal costs. Yesterday Ms Mohlala said the withdrawal of her dismissal and the settlement meant she had been “vindicated” and that there was acknowledgement her dismissal did not follow proper procedure. “I’m happy and satisfied that the matter has been settled and (I thank) the president and Mr Baloyi for their intervention. But we cannot ignore what happened between me and the minister. We are exploring other options in the interest of the department,” she said. Asked if she would return to the department if not deployed elsewhere, Ms Mohlala declined to say.
During the first court appearance last month, President Jacob Zuma requested that Mr Baloyi intervene in the matter outside court proceedings. Ms Mohlala was offered a R2,9m settlement but refused, demanding to be redeployed to a post of equal standing.
Gen Nyanda’s spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso said yesterday the agreement did not imply the immediate reinstatement of the former director-general to her old position. He said this arrangement allowed what Ms Mohlala had initially requested from the president to take effect. “As (the) ministry we welcome the agreement as it paves a way for the filling of the position as soon as possible by a suitable and relevant person with the necessary expertise,” he said. Mr Rikhotso said the settlement was done in order to reinstate Ms Mohlala as a public servant. Consequently, Mr Baloyi would explore suitable options in order to address this matter.
The fight between Ms Mohlala and Gen Nyanda broke into the open last month. The pair failed to settle the dispute amicably and their impasse has paralysed the department, with staff morale said to have collapsed, with no collective sense of purpose. Some of Gen Nyanda’s complaints against Ms Mohlala included her hiring people from the private sector to handle department al finances. She was also accused of breaching the minister’s confidence on delicate matters involving Sentech, the state-owned signal distributor. Ms Mohlala complained about Gen Nyanda’s “interference” in tenders, saying this violated the Public Finance Management Act.
Source: Business Day
Sunday, July 25, 2010
DG exodus an outrage, says Nehawu
The National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), is "deeply outraged" about how many directors-general have been fired, suspended, resigned in questionable circumstances or threatened to resign in the past 18 months. The public sector union was reacting to the dismissal of Communications Director-General Mamodupi Mohlala by Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda on Friday after "some troubling and discomforting reports" of the minister's alleged interference in the issuing of tenders in the department.
Nehawu general secretary Fikile Majola said the "centre does not hold", intimated that President Jacob Zuma must lead and pointed out that the directors-general were in a state of flux, which bode ill for service delivery. "We expect better answers and compelling reasons about this (Mohlala) dismissal than the tired old line of 'broken trust' because we want to know what broke the trust," said Majola.
The past 18 months had seen the departure of directors-general Njabulo Nduli, Pam Yako, Jimmy Manyi, Thozi Gwanya, Portia Molefe, Vuyi Nxasana and Mohlala.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson told senior officials in the department this week that Nduli had gone on leave, a month after she criticised her director-general in Parliament for the department's regular production of substandard briefing documents. While sources said Nduli would not return, the ministry had refused to confirm or deny the termination of her contract. Dr Moshibudi Rampedi, who allegedly applied for a Food and Agriculture Organisation post last month, was appointed acting director-general this week.
Water Affairs Director-General Pam Yako has been on suspension for a year since being placed on special leave by Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica pending the outcome of an investigation of alleged procurement irregularities. The auditor-general has since found that a contract with a service provider for information technology services was extended "on numerous occasions" to 49 months, and grew in value by 587 percent in the process to more than R1-billion. The extensions contravened the department's procurement and delegation of authority regulations.
Labour Director-General Jimmy Manyi was suspended by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana recently, apparently because of comments he made during an official meeting with Norway's ambassador to South Africa Tor Christian-Hilda. Soon before his suspension, Mdlalana had apparently told Manyi to choose between his job as director-general and the presidency of the Black Management Forum.
Land Reform Director-General Thozi Gwanya's departure from his post at the end of this month was confirmed by Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti this week. The confirmation that Gwanya's contract had been "redetermined" came after initial denials by the department.
Public Enterprises Director-General Portia Molefe resigned in September. It is unclear why she left.
November saw the ousting of acting Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities Director-General Vuyi Nxasana by Minister Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, apparently after a breakdown in the relationship between her and the minister who was alleged to be loath to make crucial decisions, act on proposals or stick to ministerial handbook guidelines.
Nehawu said it found the situation "troubling, unsustainable and unacceptable", adding that it did not bode well for the stability of governance and service delivery. "The merits and demerits of these suspensions, resignations and dismissals aside, the message that comes out is that the centre is not holding in our government and that is a disturbing state of affairs," said Majola. "The biggest casualties of this chaotic situation is the citizens of this country who expect, and have been promised, service delivery... this presents a challenge when it comes to the implementation of the five identified priorities," said Majola. He emphasised that the country could ill afford the leadership vacuum created by the absence and the uncertainty surrounding these top officials because it demoralised the entire workforce in the departments and created uncertainty and instability. "Nehawu calls on the government to act swiftly in addressing this unacceptable situation of government departments that operate without stable leadership and also investigate the reasons that led to this spate of resignations and dismissals. "Service delivery should be a priority for all of us and... the government needs to start providing clear decisive leadership before it's too late," said Majola.
Source: IoL
Nehawu general secretary Fikile Majola said the "centre does not hold", intimated that President Jacob Zuma must lead and pointed out that the directors-general were in a state of flux, which bode ill for service delivery. "We expect better answers and compelling reasons about this (Mohlala) dismissal than the tired old line of 'broken trust' because we want to know what broke the trust," said Majola.
The past 18 months had seen the departure of directors-general Njabulo Nduli, Pam Yako, Jimmy Manyi, Thozi Gwanya, Portia Molefe, Vuyi Nxasana and Mohlala.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson told senior officials in the department this week that Nduli had gone on leave, a month after she criticised her director-general in Parliament for the department's regular production of substandard briefing documents. While sources said Nduli would not return, the ministry had refused to confirm or deny the termination of her contract. Dr Moshibudi Rampedi, who allegedly applied for a Food and Agriculture Organisation post last month, was appointed acting director-general this week.
Water Affairs Director-General Pam Yako has been on suspension for a year since being placed on special leave by Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica pending the outcome of an investigation of alleged procurement irregularities. The auditor-general has since found that a contract with a service provider for information technology services was extended "on numerous occasions" to 49 months, and grew in value by 587 percent in the process to more than R1-billion. The extensions contravened the department's procurement and delegation of authority regulations.
Labour Director-General Jimmy Manyi was suspended by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana recently, apparently because of comments he made during an official meeting with Norway's ambassador to South Africa Tor Christian-Hilda. Soon before his suspension, Mdlalana had apparently told Manyi to choose between his job as director-general and the presidency of the Black Management Forum.
Land Reform Director-General Thozi Gwanya's departure from his post at the end of this month was confirmed by Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti this week. The confirmation that Gwanya's contract had been "redetermined" came after initial denials by the department.
Public Enterprises Director-General Portia Molefe resigned in September. It is unclear why she left.
November saw the ousting of acting Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities Director-General Vuyi Nxasana by Minister Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, apparently after a breakdown in the relationship between her and the minister who was alleged to be loath to make crucial decisions, act on proposals or stick to ministerial handbook guidelines.
Nehawu said it found the situation "troubling, unsustainable and unacceptable", adding that it did not bode well for the stability of governance and service delivery. "The merits and demerits of these suspensions, resignations and dismissals aside, the message that comes out is that the centre is not holding in our government and that is a disturbing state of affairs," said Majola. "The biggest casualties of this chaotic situation is the citizens of this country who expect, and have been promised, service delivery... this presents a challenge when it comes to the implementation of the five identified priorities," said Majola. He emphasised that the country could ill afford the leadership vacuum created by the absence and the uncertainty surrounding these top officials because it demoralised the entire workforce in the departments and created uncertainty and instability. "Nehawu calls on the government to act swiftly in addressing this unacceptable situation of government departments that operate without stable leadership and also investigate the reasons that led to this spate of resignations and dismissals. "Service delivery should be a priority for all of us and... the government needs to start providing clear decisive leadership before it's too late," said Majola.
Source: IoL
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Communications director 'released' from contract
The director general of the department of communications Mamodupi Mohlala has been "released" from her contract with immediate effect. "In the process of trying to find solutions to the challenges, it subsequently became apparent that trust between the minister [Siphiwe Nyanda] and the director general has broken down irretrievably," said spokesperson for the communications ministry Tiyani Rikhotso in a statement on Friday afternoon.Rikhotso said Mohlala was not released from her contract because of tender issues mentioned in the media. He said the department recently faced a number of challenges "relating to internal processes and procedure". Nyanda and the deputy minister Dina Pule met the director general to resolve the issues as they threatened the day-to-day operations of the department and negatively affected its image. In the interests of the department, the staff and the government, the minister concluded that it would be best to release Mohlala from her position as director general from July 23, he said.
Harold Wesso was appointed the acting director general to ensure that the work of the department was not negatively affected. The Mail and Guardian reported last week that Wesso was appointed as an acting director general for two days after a fall-out between Nyanda and Mohlala. Nyanda last week dismissed reports that he was suspending "Mohlala" -- following repeated disagreements over tenders she refused to sign -- as "false, spurious and malicious". Nyanda reportedly issued an instruction that all tenders for the department be cancelled until they had been "discussed and approved by the minister". It was understood that Mohlala warned Nyanda this week that removing the administration of tenders from her would violate the Public Finances Management Act. The saga with his director general is the latest landing Nyanda in the media spotlight.
In March freight group Transnet dismissed two senior managers for irregularly awarding a R55-million tender to a company allegedly linked to Nyanda.
In a separate case, the Democratic Alliance alleged that a company partly owned by Nyanda was unlawfully awarded a R67,8-million tender by the Gauteng roads and transport department.
Earlier this year Nyanda was accused of indulging in a "caviar and silk" lifestyle after allegedly spending thousands of rands on hotel stays at the luxurious Mount Nelson and Twelve Apostles hotels and buying two R1,2-million BMWs for his work.
Congress of South African Trade Union leader Zwelinzima Vavi singled out Nyanda when criticising the government's failure to act on allegations of corruption in Cabinet. Vavi had said reports that Nyanda had spent half-a-million rand on hotels in Cape Town should be probed, which landed him in hot water with its ally in the ruling alliance, the ANC.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Friday, July 16, 2010
Minister wants action on corruption “without fear or favour”
Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane on Friday said it is the duty of law enforcement agency’s to act on allegations of corruption without fear or favour.
Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda is at the centre of another tender storm. It is alleged Nyanda wants all tenders for the department to be cancelled until they have been discussed and approved by him. He is also said to have stripped his director general, Mamodupi Mohlala, of powers to administer tenders because she refused to sign off on tenders linked to him or people close to him. The Communications Ministry has denied the allegations.
Chabane said police need to look into claims and investigate. “We should avoid a situation where we as politicians would interfere with the normal work of the operations of the authorities who have been given responsibilities. Our task needs to be clearly defined in terms of what it is we need to do, law enforcement agencies need to continue doing their work without fear or favour,” said Chabane.
Source: Eye Witness News
Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda is at the centre of another tender storm. It is alleged Nyanda wants all tenders for the department to be cancelled until they have been discussed and approved by him. He is also said to have stripped his director general, Mamodupi Mohlala, of powers to administer tenders because she refused to sign off on tenders linked to him or people close to him. The Communications Ministry has denied the allegations.
Chabane said police need to look into claims and investigate. “We should avoid a situation where we as politicians would interfere with the normal work of the operations of the authorities who have been given responsibilities. Our task needs to be clearly defined in terms of what it is we need to do, law enforcement agencies need to continue doing their work without fear or favour,” said Chabane.
Source: Eye Witness News
A two-day job after minister and DG clash
An acting director general was appointed for two days this week in the communications department after a mysterious fallout between Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda and his director general, Mamodupi Mohlala. Dr Harold Wesso, who was heading an e-skills institute in the department, told the Mail & Guardian he was placed in the post of acting director general late on Wednesday afternoon. The M&G was told that Wesso was temporarily appointed because Nyanda had tried to set up a meeting three times with Mohlala, but she had said she was sick. Because of her claim, Nyanda appointed Wesso in the acting position but did not suspend her. "My appointment letter said it was just for two days, until Friday," Wesso said on Thursday. "What is happening after that, I am not sure. I was appointed acting director general late [on Wednesday] afternoon and I will be trying to maintain the status quo."
Nyanda's and Mohlala's families have strong links with each other, but on Thursday Business Day reported that Mohlala was about to be suspended by Nyanda, following repeated disagreements over tenders she refused to sign. The story reported unsubstantiated claims that she had refused to approve tenders that were awarded to companies linked to people close to Nyanda and a private company partly owned by Nyanda, General Nyanda Security (GNS). Communications department spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso said Nyanda dismissed the allegations in the report "as false, spurious and malicious". "The minister is not involved in the issuing or adjudication of tenders," he said. "Such is the responsibility of the management of the department." Nyanda would not address administration and human resources issues through the media and was dealing with departmental management internally, Rikhotso said.
Mohlala agreed to answer M&G questions about the tender controversy but then failed to do so. Instead, she confined her response to an explanation of her relationship with the minister and said she would return to the office on July 19. "The minister and I have a conducive work relationship and I respect the mutual relationship both the minister as an executive authority and I as an accounting officer have," wrote Mohlala. In past weeks communications department staff said tensions have become apparent between Mohlala and Nyanda. A source close to the ANC NEC's communications subcommittee said Mohlala had alienated the party when she bypassed the committee on policy issues. "There have been major fireworks ... she doesn't attend meetings with them and has taken new policy to the Cabinet, such as on broadband, where there has been no debate."
Source: Mail & Guardian
Nyanda's and Mohlala's families have strong links with each other, but on Thursday Business Day reported that Mohlala was about to be suspended by Nyanda, following repeated disagreements over tenders she refused to sign. The story reported unsubstantiated claims that she had refused to approve tenders that were awarded to companies linked to people close to Nyanda and a private company partly owned by Nyanda, General Nyanda Security (GNS). Communications department spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso said Nyanda dismissed the allegations in the report "as false, spurious and malicious". "The minister is not involved in the issuing or adjudication of tenders," he said. "Such is the responsibility of the management of the department." Nyanda would not address administration and human resources issues through the media and was dealing with departmental management internally, Rikhotso said.
Mohlala agreed to answer M&G questions about the tender controversy but then failed to do so. Instead, she confined her response to an explanation of her relationship with the minister and said she would return to the office on July 19. "The minister and I have a conducive work relationship and I respect the mutual relationship both the minister as an executive authority and I as an accounting officer have," wrote Mohlala. In past weeks communications department staff said tensions have become apparent between Mohlala and Nyanda. A source close to the ANC NEC's communications subcommittee said Mohlala had alienated the party when she bypassed the committee on policy issues. "There have been major fireworks ... she doesn't attend meetings with them and has taken new policy to the Cabinet, such as on broadband, where there has been no debate."
Source: Mail & Guardian
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Nyanda denies rift with DG
A terse statement issued today by the Department of Communications (DOC) denies a newspaper report that communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda is about to suspend his director-general, Mamodupi Mohlala. Earlier today, national newspaper Business Day reported that Nyanda was about to suspend Mohlala following repeated disagreements over tenders she refused to sign.
The newspaper said tenders that were the subject of the disagreement included those for advising Telkom on its black economic empowerment strategy, an IT system for the South African Post Office, and the turnaround strategy for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The report also cited the delay in the digital broadcasting migration strategy, with the process of changing SA's national TV system from analogue to digital as a point of tension between the two.
Nyanda has been on the receiving end of much criticism from the media and other sources, following his company General Nyanda Security being awarded lucrative Transnet contracts. His decision to spend more than R2 million on luxury cars, and his accommodation at luxury Cape Town hotels placed Nyanda close to the top of the official opposition Democratic Alliance's fruitless and wasteful expenditure list.
The DOC statement issued today says the minister dismisses the allegations contained in the report as false, spurious and malicious. “The minister exercises political oversight over the department and he gives it policy direction in line with his statutory and constitutional mandate. Furthermore, he respects the legal prescripts defining the scope, nature and extent of his responsibilities,” the statement says. It further denied any involvement by Nyanda in the issuing or adjudication of tenders. Such is the responsibility of the management of the department, it adds. The statement goes on to say Nyanda will continue with his responsibility of ensuring the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, Public Service Act, and all relevant laws and regulations are adhered to and not flouted within the department.
It says Nyanda will not address the department's administration and human resources issues through the media. This position is in deference to the department's staff, including Mohlala, it notes. “The minister is dealing with issues that are impacting the management of the department internally and according to the applicable laws, regulations and public service policies,” the statement reads.
Niekie van den Berg, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of communications, says he is not surprised that reports of tension between Nyanda and Mohlala are surfacing. “I noticed during the Parliamentary briefing where both were present that the minister appeared to be very irritated in explaining why the country should be investigating another [Brazilian] system when it had already committed to a European standard,” he says. SA is in the middle of its digital migration strategy, with Cabinet having setting the switch-off date for the analogue system for 1 November 2011. Talk of changing standards at such a late stage has been vigorously opposed by the industry, broadcasters and others, as they have already committed themselves to the European standard and procured some of the equipment needed.
Source: IT Web
The newspaper said tenders that were the subject of the disagreement included those for advising Telkom on its black economic empowerment strategy, an IT system for the South African Post Office, and the turnaround strategy for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The report also cited the delay in the digital broadcasting migration strategy, with the process of changing SA's national TV system from analogue to digital as a point of tension between the two.
Nyanda has been on the receiving end of much criticism from the media and other sources, following his company General Nyanda Security being awarded lucrative Transnet contracts. His decision to spend more than R2 million on luxury cars, and his accommodation at luxury Cape Town hotels placed Nyanda close to the top of the official opposition Democratic Alliance's fruitless and wasteful expenditure list.
The DOC statement issued today says the minister dismisses the allegations contained in the report as false, spurious and malicious. “The minister exercises political oversight over the department and he gives it policy direction in line with his statutory and constitutional mandate. Furthermore, he respects the legal prescripts defining the scope, nature and extent of his responsibilities,” the statement says. It further denied any involvement by Nyanda in the issuing or adjudication of tenders. Such is the responsibility of the management of the department, it adds. The statement goes on to say Nyanda will continue with his responsibility of ensuring the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, Public Service Act, and all relevant laws and regulations are adhered to and not flouted within the department.
It says Nyanda will not address the department's administration and human resources issues through the media. This position is in deference to the department's staff, including Mohlala, it notes. “The minister is dealing with issues that are impacting the management of the department internally and according to the applicable laws, regulations and public service policies,” the statement reads.
Niekie van den Berg, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of communications, says he is not surprised that reports of tension between Nyanda and Mohlala are surfacing. “I noticed during the Parliamentary briefing where both were present that the minister appeared to be very irritated in explaining why the country should be investigating another [Brazilian] system when it had already committed to a European standard,” he says. SA is in the middle of its digital migration strategy, with Cabinet having setting the switch-off date for the analogue system for 1 November 2011. Talk of changing standards at such a late stage has been vigorously opposed by the industry, broadcasters and others, as they have already committed themselves to the European standard and procured some of the equipment needed.
Source: IT Web
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
DIRECTOR GENERAL: DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS
Ms Mamodupi Mohlala was appointed Director-General of the Department of Communications. This follows the ratification of her appointment by Cabinet on 26 August 2009.
A qualified Attorney, Ms Mohlala holds an MBA from the Telecommunications Academy in London, a Certificate in Telecommunications Regulation from the University of Florida, USA. In addition to her BA Law from the University of Swaziland, she also holds an LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand, an LLM from the same institution, and a Senior Executive Management Programme from the London Business School.
Prior to being appointed Communications Department Director-General, Ms Mohlala was the Chief Executive Officer, or Pension Fund Adjudicator, in the Office of the Pension Fund Adjudicator, a position she has held since 2007. As the Pension Fund Adjudicator, her key responsibilities included, among others, with and monitoring of the pension and retirement investment industry; the development and monitoring of the strategic direction of the organization; preparing and presenting quarterly reports to the Financial Services Board and the Minister of Finance; and monitoring and giving direction to the members of the Executive Committee of the organisation on human resource management, information technology, finance and general administration. She headed an independent tribunal tasked with resolving complaints in the pensions’ arena in an economical and expeditious manner.
Ms Mohlala’s achievements during her tenure at the Office of the Pension Fund Adjudicator includes the establishment and introduction of a conciliation process and the establishment and expansion of the executive constitution of the organization to include competencies in communication, finance, IT, human resources and internal audit.
Following the formation of ICASA to replace the old Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in 2000, Ms Mohlala was appointed Councilor at the fledgling regulator in 2002, and served until 2007. Her key responsibilities at ICASA included regulatory and licensing activities in the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Sector as contemplated in terms of the ICASA Act. Her tenure there will be best remembered as chair of the following committees:
* Sentech license amendment process
* Wireless Business Solutions license amendment
* Telkom license amendment
* Swiftnet license amendment
* Mobile Telephone Network License amendment
* Vodacom License amendment
* Cell C license amendment
* And Second Network Operator license drafting committee
Her duties also included, among others, the interviewing and appointment of Chief Executive Officer; consideration and approval of Human Resource Management and Development policies (HRM&D); approval of the MTEF policy for ICASA; and interacting with various international delegations on study tours and fact finding missions to South Africa. Among others, these included delegations from China, Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia.
Ms Mohlala has also served as Managing Director of Mohlala Attorneys Incorporated, was a Lecturer at the University of South Africa and at the Practical Legal School, as well as a Candidates Attorney at Deneys Reitz Attorneys, among others.
She joins the Department as its third Director-General and with a formidable reputation in the industry.
Source: Department of Communications
A qualified Attorney, Ms Mohlala holds an MBA from the Telecommunications Academy in London, a Certificate in Telecommunications Regulation from the University of Florida, USA. In addition to her BA Law from the University of Swaziland, she also holds an LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand, an LLM from the same institution, and a Senior Executive Management Programme from the London Business School.
Prior to being appointed Communications Department Director-General, Ms Mohlala was the Chief Executive Officer, or Pension Fund Adjudicator, in the Office of the Pension Fund Adjudicator, a position she has held since 2007. As the Pension Fund Adjudicator, her key responsibilities included, among others, with and monitoring of the pension and retirement investment industry; the development and monitoring of the strategic direction of the organization; preparing and presenting quarterly reports to the Financial Services Board and the Minister of Finance; and monitoring and giving direction to the members of the Executive Committee of the organisation on human resource management, information technology, finance and general administration. She headed an independent tribunal tasked with resolving complaints in the pensions’ arena in an economical and expeditious manner.
Ms Mohlala’s achievements during her tenure at the Office of the Pension Fund Adjudicator includes the establishment and introduction of a conciliation process and the establishment and expansion of the executive constitution of the organization to include competencies in communication, finance, IT, human resources and internal audit.
Following the formation of ICASA to replace the old Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in 2000, Ms Mohlala was appointed Councilor at the fledgling regulator in 2002, and served until 2007. Her key responsibilities at ICASA included regulatory and licensing activities in the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Sector as contemplated in terms of the ICASA Act. Her tenure there will be best remembered as chair of the following committees:
* Sentech license amendment process
* Wireless Business Solutions license amendment
* Telkom license amendment
* Swiftnet license amendment
* Mobile Telephone Network License amendment
* Vodacom License amendment
* Cell C license amendment
* And Second Network Operator license drafting committee
Her duties also included, among others, the interviewing and appointment of Chief Executive Officer; consideration and approval of Human Resource Management and Development policies (HRM&D); approval of the MTEF policy for ICASA; and interacting with various international delegations on study tours and fact finding missions to South Africa. Among others, these included delegations from China, Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia.
Ms Mohlala has also served as Managing Director of Mohlala Attorneys Incorporated, was a Lecturer at the University of South Africa and at the Practical Legal School, as well as a Candidates Attorney at Deneys Reitz Attorneys, among others.
She joins the Department as its third Director-General and with a formidable reputation in the industry.
Source: Department of Communications
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