Vulgar scent hangs over Multichoice deal

WHILE the Hawks are rounding up those fingered in state capture, the NPA is bringing them to court, and the Asset Forfeiture Unit is laying claim to their ill- gotten gains, there’s one man, despite being implicated in wrongdoing, who can’t be bothered.

In February, testifying before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, former communications minister Yunus Carrim implicated former chief executive and current Naspers boss Koos Bekker in “regulatory capture”. Naspers, which owns pay- TV monopoly Multichoice, wanted to ensure that South Africa’s migration to digital terrestrial television, from analogue, would pose no threat to its cash cow.

For that reason, Carrim testified, Bekker insisted that the government- subsidised digital set- top boxes should be free of any form of encryption – the ability to broadcast subscription television services.

emedia, which owns e. tv, had gone to court after realising how the government’s about- turn on digital migration would place them at a disadvantage and bolster Multichoice.

Carrim’s refusal to heed Bekker’s lobbying saw him replaced by the pliant Faith Muthambi who, despite ANC policy on digital migration, blazed a trail that would ultimately benefit Multichoice’s monopoly.

The Gupta- owned ANN7 channel took to the air in August 2013. Multichoice paid R25 million for the channel to be launched, and then inexplicably increased its annual “carriage fee” from R50m to R141m.

It’s difficult not to surmise that Multichoice used the “carriage fee” paid to the Guptas to maintain the company’s pay- TV dominance.

At around the same time, the SABC sold its archives to Multichoice for R553m, for which the broadcaster’s former COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, received a R30m bonus.

As soon as Jacob Zuma and his allies were booted from power at Nasrec, Multichoice discarded ANN7 and washed its hands clean of the scandal, despite the unpleasant smell that still lingers around Randburg.

While Zuma’s supporters have engaged in all sorts of whataboutism, perhaps they should direct their anger at the likes of Bekker and Multichoice, who, despite being implicated in the leaked Gupta emails, have not offered to give testimony to the Zondo Commission.