Helen Zille, premier of the Western Cape accused President Jacob Zuma of “shielding telkom from open competition” by naming the company as the “lead agency” to roll out broadband in the underserviced areas in South Africa.
Zille, who also doubled as the Democratic Alliance leader, suggested those with knowledge of Zuma’s decision had profited from this information unlawfully by buying Telkom shares.
“If you track the Telkom share price over the past few months, you will notice that its shares have gone from R11,93 in May 2013 to R76,50 this month, which strongly suggests speculation by insiders based on the privileged information that Telkom would be designated as the lead broadband agency,” she said. “If this is true, it is both criminal and corrupt.”
She also negates the president’s decision to name Telkom as government’s broadband agency. Telkom being a semi-privatised and 39% state-owned company.
“Every sensible South African was astounded to hear that the national government has awarded Telkom the monopoly for broadband roll-out nationally,” she said.
“This approach, announced by the president and disguised in weasel words like ‘lead agency’, contradicts the government’s own strategy called ‘South Africa Connect’, which advocates open competition in the market of broadband infrastructure providers so that users can get the most effective service at the best price.
“It is telling that Telkom tendered for the Western Cape broadband contract, and was beaten in open competition by several other providers. By shielding Telkom from open competition, President Zuma has removed all incentives to produce an effective and affordable service.”
Telkom is a wireline and wireless telecommunications provider in South Africa, and operating in more than 38 countries across the African continent.
