We interview Supa Mandiwanzira on the Telecel licence cancellation

L.S.M Kabweza Avatar

Yesterday, ICT Minister Supa Mandiwanzira, met at his office with Phillip Chiyangwa, Jane Mutasa, POTRAZ acting DG Kennedy Dewera and others to discuss the recent announcement by the tech minister that Telecel’s licence had been cancelled. We managed to interview the minister after the meeting. In the interview he distanced himself from the shareholding squabbles that have afflicted the company for years and have been the major cause the company finds itself without a licence today.

The minister also says he is only interested in having the licence paid for by either Telecel or, having the licence offered to another company ready to pay for it. Asked if the government had made a decision on this, he said they were consulting and finding out how best to have the licence taken up. Of course it’s hard to believe that the there’s no intention by them to involve themselves in the shareholding squabbles. Why else would they act only after Phillip Chiyangwa mentioned a couple of weeks ago that he was seeking government intervention for him to buy out the other shareholders.

The minister also told us that he expects to meet Vimpelcom representatives later this week. It’s not clear yet how many of the EC shareholders, and those clawing their way back into shareholding, he has met or what has come out of the meetings.

Here’s the full audio interview:

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11 comments

  1. anonymous

    I didnt listen to it but it seems to me, its an underhand way to push current owners to sell to Chiyangwa, regardless of what Supa claims.

    Business as usual in Zimbabwe.

    1. Analyst

      Supa is an ex-AAG man. Phidza has the good Minister in his pockets. Cry my beloved Telecel.

  2. Gary

    Wasnt the ict minister a reporter for sabc a while back? Something fishy here!!!!

    1. L.S.M Kabweza

      Why is that a problem? Having worked for the SABC that is

  3. Evans

    Too much interference. Why did they issue the licence when everything was not in place ?

    1. ic0n1c

      True, corporate governance is certainly an after thought here in Zim. Telecel shouldn’t have been allowed to operate in the first place if it didn’t have a licence.

  4. Ezra

    Techzim seems to know a lot of information that the minister doesn’t even know(telone did announce that they had acquired a mno license)

  5. Carl

    Aggression much ……..

  6. macd chip

    Waste of time to expect anything to come out of this. They will ground telecel and move on to sometging

  7. Robert Ndlovu

    So he suspended an inexistent licence ?

  8. anonymous

    The license is issued by POTRAZ which reports to the president’s office not the ICT ministry. The minister needs to stand guided accordingly. The good thing is the “can of worms” he has opened about the local shareholding and the unwillingness of vimpelcom to comply to the laws of the land.

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