Farewell chairman Vadi

When Ismail Vadi was appointed as chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, he immediately admitted that he knew nothing about the ICT sector.

However, he soon started making his mark.

His appointment came as a bit of a surprise. There were other candidates the African National Congress (ANC) could have chosen, who would have had a far better grasp and understanding of the ICT sector.

Furthermore, the committee had recently emerged from a two-year debating and drafting of the Electronic Communications Act, amending the ICASA Act and other legislation that have had a profound effect on the sector, and was feeling generally smug about itself.

Political winds were veering in late 2007. ANC politicians knew they were going to have to make a choice between the camps that supported president Thabo Mbeki and his main rival, Jacob Zuma. So, the ambitious ones were making noises of support for one camp or another, while others chose a lower profile.

Vadi did neither. He immediately tackled the issue of cost to communicate and could not understand why the poor were paying the highest telecommunications prices. It was he who first raised concerns over the migration of the broadcasting system from analogue to digital.

“If the digital TV issue is not sorted out properly, the whole country will be entirely embarrassed,” he told a Department of Communications (DOC) delegation, who stared back blankly.

The former teacher's background came to the fore many times as he demanded explanations. Vadi took the oversight role of the committee extremely seriously, as he believes public servants must be accountable for their departments' activities and how they spend the public's money.

Vadi must have felt he was riding a roller-coaster of emotions and that praise could often turn into damnation, confounding his belief that the system is supposed to work.

Paul Vecchiatto, contributor, ITWeb

Regulator ICASA was a frequent target of his exasperation, as it stumbled and bumbled to explain itself.

“ICASA is not a lame horse - it's a dead duck - I am telling you,” was one of his more famous outbursts.

Once, when ICASA chairman Paris Mashile, who tended to go off on tangents, was waxing on about Galileo and the Pope, Vadi interjected by saying: “When the Vatican appears before us we will put them to the question. In the meantime, could you please get back to the point?”

Because Vadi strongly believes in lowering the cost to communicate, he was a ready ear for Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille's proposal to start hearings into the mobile termination rate. I don't think the result was what he wanted, but the highly emotive hearings did put his chairmanship skills to the test.

At one stage during the hearings, he had to separate MTN's Karel Pienaar and then-DOC director-general Mamodupi Mohlala from snapping at each other over disputed research results.

On another occasion, he had to calm down Johnny de Lange, who was thumping the table at Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys, who in turn, appeared to be restraining himself from committing extreme violence on the ANC MP.

Often, Vadi must have felt he was riding a roller-coaster of emotions and that praise could often turn into damnation, confounding his belief that the system is supposed to work.

After one DOC presentation, he said of Mohlala to the committee: “I thank this DG for her readiness to engage with us. In fact, I give her a 70% mark, while I would give her predecessor [Lyndall Shope-Mafole] 30%.”

His profound shock at hearing of Mohlala's subsequent dismissal and the DOC's abysmal state was clearly tangible when he led formulation of the damning statement all the committee members endorsed, calling on strong action to be taken to right the department. It was in effect a censure of fired communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda.

Getting to the nub of an issue is a major concern for Vadi. He always wants to understand what the crux of the matter is, even if it means holding closed meetings so that parties would be less embarrassed.

Once, much to my chagrin, he ejected me from a hearing with Neotel, as they wanted to discuss their secret commercial contract with Broadband Infraco.

But his most famous closed meeting call was with the SABC, which led to the SA National Editors Forum getting a court order to countermand it. It was the first time in SA's parliamentary history that the judiciary had to intervene in the workings of the legislature - now that is making history!

At his modest farewell function, one could feel Vadi was held in high regard. The parliamentary staff worked well with him and appreciated his caring attitude. The opposition parties acknowledged they were made to feel part of “the communications committee family”. And the DOC was more than happy to supply the goodbye snacks.

Vadi was sincerely thanked for his leadership and ability to form a truly bipartisan working committee - an achievement in the world of real politics.

He will now be the Gauteng MEC for roads and transport, and quipped that the “taxi association is waiting for this young man”. I think he may find it somewhat more organised than the DOC or ICASA, but he will, honestly and sincerely, give as good as he gets.