Vodacom blocks internet access and access to information every weekend in the time running up to the local government elections

On 16 October at about 17:00, the network became unstable and access to internet was blocked. Calls could still sometimes be made or received, even though it often showed emergency calls only and incoming messages sometimes came through. I reported it and followed up on 17 October, when a call was logged and a ticket created for the networks department. On a WhatsApp group of our town, several people also complained about their Vodacom network problems. The ticket is still open with target date 30 October. Customer service called me to close their ticket and said an issue was experienced with a circuit breaker. Despite the network ticket that is still not closed, the network came back on and internet could be accessed as from 21 October.

Yesterday, 24 October at about 17:00, access to internet was once again blocked. Emergency calls only most of the time, while calls can sometimes be made or received and incoming messages still came through.

In this time leading to local government elections, Vodacom blocks internet access every weekend and it remains blocked for several days. The right to access to information of Vodacom customers is impaired.