The supreme court of appeal in Bloemfontein will on Monday and Tuesday next week hear from Turkcell about why it feels a lower court - the high court in Gauteng - erred when it found in 2022 that South African courts did not have jurisdiction in the long-running matter.
At the time, MTN lauded the high court's judgment and suggested the legal battle was over. But Turkcell did not agree with that assessment, and sought an appeal, which will now be heard by the supreme court.
The stakes for both companies are enormous.
Turkcell first filed papers in South Africa in November 2013 regarding a licensing process in Iran that took place in 2005 in which it was an active participant. The licence went to a consortium that included MTN. Turkcell later sued MTN for US$4.2-billion (R75.3-billion at the time of writing) in damages and has accused MTN over the years of paying bribes to secure the licence.
Soule said Turkcell believes it still has a strong case against not only MTN but also against Nhleko and Charnley. "MTN interfered with our contractual rights and took away the GSM licence that was ours," he alleged.
