Vodacom's elite network
Stefaans Brümmer
15 April 2007 11:59
Vodacoms connectivity -- the cellphone groups habit of choosing politicians and their friends as business partners -- extends to two more of its operations on the continent.
The Mail & Guardian reported a fortnight ago that Mozambican President Armando Guebuza had become a shareholder in Vodacom Mozambique.
In Lesotho, Vodacoms 11,7% partner, the Sekha-Metsi Investment Consortium, was selected by the government. But in Tanzania and the DRC, Vodacom made its own choices.
Vodacom Tanzania was licensed in December 1999, with its local partners Planetel Communications and Caspian Construction holding 36% and 10% respectively. Planetels stake has since decreased to 16%, while Caspians has increased to 19%.
Caspians shareholder representative on the Vodacom Tanzania board is businessman-politician Rostam Aziz,
Vodacom Tanzania had, however, spread its political bets. The CCMs Pius Msekwa was both Vodacom Tanzanias non-executive chair and Speaker of Parliament between 2003 and 2005. When Vodacom hosted a VIP gala dinner to bid farewell to outgoing president Mkapa in December 2005, Msekwa attended, presumably in both capacities.
About Msekwa, it said that the appointment of Vodacom Tanzanias chair was the prerogative of Vodacoms Tanzanian partners, but conceded: It is correct to note that having a Speaker of Parliament as a chairman presents a significant degree of governance risk, and Vodacom would very likely counsel or decide against such an appointment in future.
Vodacom set up shop in the DRC late in 2001, when Vodacom International went into a 51%-49% partnership with Congolese Wireless Network (CWN), which had obtained a network licence in 1999 from the government of then-president Laurent Kabila.
Although CWN is headed by businessman Alieu Conteh, its partners, say two sources acquainted with Vodacoms dealings in the DRC, include Didier Kazadi Nyembwe, who in 2001 and 2002 headed the DRCs national intelligence agency.
Kazadi was one of Laurent Kabilas closest associates -- he reportedly helped raise his children, including Joseph Kabila, the current president.
It appears likely that Kazadis relationship with Laurent Kabila helped CWN land the licence in the first place.
Reuters reported after Vodacom Congo started operations: The late Laurent Kabila handed out licences widely as political favours when he was DRC President, say analysts. [Then Vodacom International MD Andrew] Mthembu had to spend six months checking that Vodacom Congo had a national licence, that there would be no interference in its spectrum and that this would not be challenged by other operators.
No sooner had Vodacom and CWN joined up, however, than Kazadi got into trouble. A United Nations-appointed panel examining the illegal exploitation of the DRCs natural resources named him in October 2002 as a member of the elite networks profiteering from his countrys civil war.