The Strive Masiyiwa Story: Preparing for court (Part 3)
By Strive Masiyiwa
Always get the best people to advise you
“The best lawyer for this kind of case, is Antony Eastwood. He is semi retired, and only does cases that interest him. He used to defend the freedom fighters during the fight against colonialism. He is eccentric, but a genius.If you can persuade him and his partners to take this case, then you have the best legal team.” That was the advice of Ian Donovan, the lawyer at the bank.
The team at Kantor and Immerman, the firm where Antony was a partner, just loved the case. After brooding over it, Antony suggested that we get a legal expert in telecoms law, to advise us. We chose an American lawyer from New York, called Dr. Judith O’Neil; easily one of the most amazing people, I have ever had the privilege to know, in my entire life. She was the heart and soul of the battle, that was to unfold.
And so the team was assembled: Antony Eastwood, Mervin Immerman, Canaan Dube, Beatrice Mtetwa, and later Tawanda Nyambirai, Nic Rudnick, and young Jo McNally. At times it seemed the whole firm, was just fighting one case. We just became one big family.
For the presentations in court, we selected one of the greatest legal minds our country and region had ever produced; Advocate Adrian De Boubon. But for Dr O’Neil, the entire legal team, were all Zimbabweans. It had become what the French call a “cause célèbre”. For the next six months, I did nothing else, but work on the court case. I handed over management of the company, to my team. I met with the lawyers daily.
And so we went to court seeking a declaratory order, to state that Mobile Cellular telephony, was not covered by the monopoly enjoyed by the PTC.
On their side the PTC, assembled an impressive legal team, led by Advocate Chris Anderson, who had once served as Minister of Justice. He was absolutely brilliant, and I enjoyed listening to him, even though he was on the other side. Many years later we became great friends.
Exactly six months, after we filed our papers, on 24th January 1994, the court ruled…
To be continued..
