Mobile Industry Peers Elect WASPA Chair & ManCom

The 2017 Chairman and Management Committee members were elected last week by their peers at the Wireless Application Service Providers’ Association of SA (WASPA).

As a member-driven industry association, WASPA annually elects the office bearers who will volunteer their time in pursuit of its mandate of representing the industry and protecting the mobile consumer. The WASPA Chairman takes strategic direction from the WASPA Management Committee while a series of quarterly meetings, regular communiques and other built-in mechanisms help provide oversight.

This year, James McNab receives the Chairman’s baton from Casper de Villiers who has spent eight years serving in various roles within WASPA’s Management Committee. He has been at the helm of the non-profit body since the departure of founding chair, Leon Perlman, in 2013. He is scaling back his work and voluntary commitments to spend more time with his young family.

WASPA’s democratic voting process, in which all full members were entitled to cast their votes at its Annual General Meeting (AGM), also saw portfolios assigned to the Association’s newly-installed Management Committee. All office bearer positions are elected by WASPA’s Management Committee which votes for potential candidates.

The fact that there are several new faces on its Management Committee this year will help WASPA to remain relevant and effective. The elected 2017 WASPA Management Committee is as follows:

• James McNab Chairman
• Anthony Ekerold Vice Chairman, Legal
• Greg Brophy Treasurer, Finance
• Rory Anderson Communications
• Conrad Geldenhuys Code of Conduct
• Tanya Howard Lobbying
• Kobus Vos Membership

Ilonka Badenhorst will continue to manage the day to day activity of WASPA in her capacity as General Manager. She will drive the strategic objectives of the organisation as set out by the Board following input from members.

According to Mr McNab, a Management Committee member since 2013 who has previously headed the Communications and Code of Conduct portfolios, “I am delighted to welcome so much vibrant new talent to WASPA in 2017. It’s testimony to WASPA’s solid reputation that so many well-regarded industry players see the value of volunteering their time and skills to growing our industry in responsible ways,” said Mr McNab.

A major benefit of membership is that by aligning their activities with the WASPA Code of Conduct, WASPs can simultaneously be in compliance with several important pieces of legislation. The Code has purposely been drafted to be in line with the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA), the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) and the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI).

A non-profit organisation, WASPA was founded on 26 August 2004 in South Africa. Its role is fully-supported and its Code of Conduct is endorsed by SA network operators: Cell C, MTN, Vodacom and Telkom Mobile. Fostering consumer confidence in the WASP industry through responsible self-regulation is a key focus of the Association.

The previous WASPA AGM was held in February 2016.

For more information, please visit www.waspa.org.za.