M&G investigates MTN SA boss

Johannesburg, 18 Sep 2006

The Mail & Guardian, which was prevented last week from publishing an investigative piece on MTN SA MD Maanda Manyatshe, is hopeful the article will be published this week.

Investigative journalist Stefaans Br"ummer says the paper hopes to publish the story in Friday`s edition.

He says the interdict, granted at 17:30 on Thursday, was not a final ruling. The court is due to reconvene to hear the matter tomorrow, which the newspaper hopes will allow it enough time to publish the story.

While Br"ummer was not able to go into much detail regarding the article, he did say it concerned Manyatshe in his personal capacity.

Judge Mohammed Jajbhay`s ruling was based on his decision that Manyatshe did not have sufficient time to file a final affidavit in response to the weekly newspaper.

MTN spokesperson Ravin Maharaj said: "MTN SA is aware of the allegations but is not party to any of it. Note, this is a personal matter and will be dealt with as such."

Cancelled contracts

Bart Henderson, CEO of the South African Institute of Corporate Fraud and Management, says the M&G article is about the 14 contracts that the South African Post Office (SAPO) cancelled a year ago, which Manyatshe had signed for while he was still SAPO CEO.

The reasons given for the cancellations ranged from wasteful expenditure to overcharging, Henderson says.

Most vendors went quietly, he says, with the exception of Vision Design, which disputed the cancellation of its contract and took the matter to arbitration.

The first hearing was in August, and SAPO was granted a postponement to November to allow it to better prepare and investigate alleged irregularities associated with the claimant, Henderson says. In the meantime, Vision Design was R20 million out of pocket and going down, he adds.

"I believe the contents of the lever arch file leaked to M&G contain material associated with the investigations undertaken by SAPO, both prior to and in the wake of the commencement of the arbitration matter."