ANC to launch their own cellular network?

A deal proposed to Fikile Mbalula by media personality Majota “Phat Joe” Kambule and Joseph Nkadimeng is reportedly in jeopardy due to dissent among members of the African National Congress.

According to Mail & Guardian, Kambule and Nkadimeng approached ANC elections head Mbalula with a plan to “attract thousands of people to a digital mobile network that would disseminate ANC news, content, and information, and earn the party more than R10 million a month.”

1912 Mobile would piggyback off of the Cell C network and would be set up and managed by Digital Broadway and Trading and Impepho Emhlophe Risk Managers – companies owned by Kambule and Nkadimeng.

The publication also reports that “allegations of greed, litigation threats, and claims of a conflict of interest threaten to derail the agreement”.

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As a result, Nkadimeng, who M&G described as one of the architects of the ANC’s 2016 covert “war room” campaign, is planning to sue the ANC if they go forward with the launch of the network as they allegedly introduced a third party to act as a middleman and undercut Kambule and Nkadimeng in the deal.

MyBroadband reports that Kambule previously worked with the ANC when he spearheaded a “news website” called The New South African. Under Kambule’s leadership of a content creation team, the site was supplied with 150 articles pushing a pro-ANC agenda as part of a larger campaign to use various digital platforms and fake election posters to tarnish the reputation of the opposition.

Mbalula denied Nkadimeng’s claims, adding that the ANC had not agreed to anything with his companies but he reiterated that the deal was not at jeopardy.

Cell C spokesperson Karin Fourie refused to comment on the deal as it was confidential and subject to non-disclosure agreements.

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