Khudusela Pitje: Sa Regulators Failed Black Entrepreneurs In Fibre Sector

The proposed deal, which was ultimately blocked by the Competition Tribunal last October, would have seen Vodacom acquire a 30-40 co-controlling stake in Maziv in a multibillion-rand transaction.

Maziv is controlled by CIVH , which is in turn is controlled by Remgro. Pitje and his family make up one of the founding members of CIVH, the holding company of Dark Fibre Africa DFA and Vumatel.

"From my family office perspective - and not a CIVH perspective - as an investor, I am disappointed in the fact that this is probably one of the unique businesses where two black families Pitje's and businessman Joe Madungandaba's were founding members of what everyone sees today. In all the processes, where you talk about public interest, you normally have to address BEE, but this business was built by two black families, among other investors, who were involved from the start," Pitje said in an exclusive interview with the TechCentral Show to be published later this week. "We are disappointed to see that such a landmark transaction has been ongoing for over three years."

According to Pitje, the deal would also have helped to "bridge the digital divide between the suburbs and the townships", a problem CIVH managed to get around by building what Pitje referred to as "potentially the world's first prepaid fibre network".

Pitje cast doubt on how the tribunal could confidently predict the outcome of a model the market has never tried before, adding that long-time Maziv shareholders would not risk losing value at the expense of Vodacom.