Communications minister Dina Pule said on Tuesday that government’s first responsibility as a shareholder in Telkom is to ensure a board of directors is constituted and the company is stabilised.
However, she warned that her role is to champion government programmes and it is not her place to support the cause of private investors in the company, which is listed on the JSE.
Government holds 39,8% of Telkom’s equity. Pule used that shareholding at Telkom’s annual general meeting two weeks ago to block the election or reelection of four of the company’s nonexecutive directors, including lead independent nonexecutive Sibusiso Luthuli.
This week, Telkom’s CEO, Nombulelo Moholi, tendered her resignation. It’s reliably understood that Moholi and Pule did not see eye to eye.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Pule said: “As a department, we would have loved to have [Moholi] staying in the company. She has been there and she understands Telkom [well]. However, if she has taken a decision to resign, there is nothing we can do. Anyone can take a decision in relation to their lives at one point or other, as you do.”
Pule said Moholi assisted government in delivering services it was “supposed to deliver”.
“We’d still have to engage with her at some point, but for now we can say we wish her well.”
Asked by TechCentral how government intends to balance the rights and expectations of private shareholders in Telkom with government’s social investment programmes, Pule said: “As government, as I sit here representing government, there is no way I can champion the vision of the private sector. What I can do is champion the vision of government.”
She said it is up to Telkom’s leadership team, including its board of directors and senior executives, to balance the needs of the company’s shareholders. “We want to work with the private sector, but as we work with the private sector, my responsibility is to ensure I change the lives of the people of South Africa.” — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media
