EOH Holdings founder Asher Bohbot is stepping down from the JSE-listed IT services group’s board of directors, ending a source of potential conflict with newly appointed CEO Stephen van Coller.
Bohbot, who led EOH for 19 years — building it into one of the largest IT companies in Africa — will leave at the end of the month. His exit comes as Van Coller attempts to improve corporate governance at EOH as fresh allegations of corruption involving the group’s public sector dealings emerge.
EOH said the decision was taking in accordance with King IV corporate governance guidelines, which state that a former CEO should not service as chairman of the board until a three-year cooling-off period has been observed.
Bohbot will, however, assist the group until 31 July on an “advisory basis” in the implementation of its new strategic direction.
The departure of the former CEO, who feels passionately about the business he built and is regarded a strong and perhaps even forceful character, is likely to allow Van Coller — a former senior executive at MTN Group who joined EOH last year — freer rein to mould the the strategic direction and clean up legacy issues, including persistent talk about unethical business practices in its dealings with the public sector.
“I have confidence in EOH’s management and believe that the new strategy, which is in advanced stages of implementation, will be beneficial to all our stakeholders,” Bohbot said in a statement issued via the JSE on Wednesday.
Board shake-up
EOH has announced a number of other changes to its board. These include the resignation of long-serving non-executive director Rob Sporen, who departs to “comply with King IV’s stipulation on board member independence”. Sporen has been with EOH for 20 years.
Tshilidzi Marwala, non-executive director, will be also resign from the board at month-end. His exit is also aligned with King IV’s stipulation on board member independence.
Tebogo Maenetja, human resources executive director, will leave the board at the end of March and as an EOH employee at the end of April to assume a senior executive position with a large international business. Maenetja’s departure is unrelated to the efforts to improve corporate governance. — (c) 2019 NewsCentral Media