Casaburri not out of loop, says comms department

Johannesburg, 07 Aug 2000

The ministry of communications over the weekend called an article claiming that minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri had been excluded from a Cabinet committee "misleading fiction".

An article in the Mail & Guardian of 4 August claimed that Matsepe-Casaburri had been dropped from a Cabinet sub-committee that was to assess the fallout from the controversy that surrounds the awarding of the third licence. It said the committee had been appointed to examine "oil and weapons deals apparently tied up with the cellphone licence".

In a statement this weekend, the communications ministry categorically denied that Matsepe-Casaburri had been dropped from the committee. "As anyone with an extensive knowledge of government should know, ministers work in clusters," the ministry said. "The Cabinet sub-committee the [Mail & Guardian] newspaper refers to is part of the economic cluster. It has already been briefed by the minister of communications extensively on the third cellular licence process and other issues within her portfolio."

Ministerial spokesman Brian Sokutu in July confirmed to ITWeb that Matsepe-Casaburri had consulted with ministers Alec Erwin, Trevor Manuel and Jeff Radebe on the economic impact of the third licence, but said the final decision still rested with the communications minister.

Allegations and rumours of clandestine weapons and oil deals linked to the awarding of the licence were raised as early as last year, but no proof of such linkages has been offered. "In respect of allegations involving oil and weapons deals, the minister is not aware of any such deals," the ministry said in its statement.

The court case surrounding the recommendation of the Cell C consortium by the SA Telecommunications Regulatory Authority will resume in the Pretoria High Court in October, after bidder Nextcom was granted an interdict preventing the minister from awarding the licence.