Nail considering court action against Icasa ruling

Business Day has an official letter of notification of Icasa's decision which criticises Nail's empowerment credentials, saying that a major reason for the decision not to exempt Nail from regulations prohibiting a company from owning more than two FM radio licences was that although Nail was controlled by historically disadvantaged individuals, "less than 5% of its equity is held by empowerment parties". In the light of this Icasa believes that the proposed merger would have led to a "reduction in the stake held by empowerment entities".

While Icasa is expected to give detailed reasons for their decision soon, Saki Macozoma, Nail's CE, has warned that should these reasons turn out to be as "vague" as those cited in the letter to their legal representatives, Nail would consider court action. Macozoma went further to say that in addition to the court case Nail would consider tabling a revised offer for Kagiso Media.

In Icasa's ruling not to exempt Nail from legislation it is said that Nail failed to give an undertaking that it would transform the content of radio stations and change the media landscape. Nail would have held three FM radio licenses instead of the statutory two, for KFM, East Coast, and Radio Jacaranda.