Safaricom control to stay with Vodacom until appeal

Vodacom Group said on Friday that its subsidiary will remain the registered owner of the Safaricom shares that gave it control of the Kenyan operator, at least for now, after Kenya’s court of appeal agreed to fast-track its challenge to a ruling that voided the deal and ordered that the status quo be maintained in the meantime.

In a statement to investors on Friday, JSE-listed Vodacom said the court, which heard its application for a stay on 13 October, “decided not to determine the application but instead recorded to fast-track the substantive appeal”.

The effect, according to Vodacom, is that its subsidiary Vodafone Kenya remains “the registered holder of the Safaricom shares” it bought from the Kenyan government on 30 June, and the purchase price paid to the government “is to be preserved, pending the hearing of the appeal”.

Vodacom said it “remains confident in the strategic rationale for the acquisition”.

Vodacom’s version differs from several reports in the Kenyan press, which said that the court had rejected the government’s and Vodacom’s applications to suspend the high court’s judgment “for lack of merit”, leaving in force its order that the shares be restored to the state.

Vodacom’s statement does not give a date for the appeal hearing. Nor does it say whether Vodacom will keep consolidating Safaricom’s results in its own accounts, which it began doing from 30 June.

The transaction, announced in December , saw Vodacom pay KSh34/share for 15% of Safaricom from the Kenyan government and an effective 5% from its parent, Vodafone. That lifted its stake from about 35% to 55%, giving it majority control of Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator for the first time since Safaricom listed in 2008. The government received KSh204.3-billion for its shares, plus KSh40.2-billion paid in advance of future dividends.

A petition by broadcaster Tony Gachoka, academic Fredrick Ogola and opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka froze the deal in March . The court of appeal lifted that freeze on 26 June, and Vodacom completed the acquisition on 30 June.

On 15 September, the high court declared the sale “unconstitutional, null and void”, finding that the government had not consulted the public adequately, and ordered the shares restored to the state. Kenya’s treasury and Vodacom both said they would appeal .

If the judgment stands, Vodacom’s stake would fall to about 40% and it would lose its majority in Safaricom. The 5% it bought from Vodafone is not affected by the ruling. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media