Big board changes have been announced at EOH Holdings, the IT services group that found itself enmeshed in state capture corruption during Jacob Zuma’s scandal-plagued presidency.
EOH said on Friday that following an approach from shareholders, it has made changes to its board of directors which sees Andrew Mthembu not only step down as interim CEO but also as chairman and as a director of the board.
Mthembu had been appointed as interim CEO on 1 April following the departure at the end of March of Stephen van Coller, who had led a governance clean-up at the group.
On 10 May, some six weeks after Van Coller’s exit, EOH said it had been approached by “certain shareholders” regarding a “succession plan for the EOH board”.
Its statement at the time provided no further insight.
Now EOH has said its board has “evaluated the proposal received from shareholders requesting changes to the board”. As a result, it agreed that:
- Mthembu will resign as a director of EOH and its subsidiaries, as well as from his position as executive chairman and interim CEO. He is replaced as board chairman by non-independent director Jabu Moleketi;
- Fatima Newman, who worked closely with Van Coller in dealing with the governance failings at EOH, will step down as an executive director. She will remain in her capacity as CEO of EOH-owned EasyHQ; and
- Bharti Harie will resign as independent non-executive director.
All of the above changes are with immediate effect. At the same time:
- Marius de la Rey has been appointed as interim CEO;
- Veronica Motloutsi has been appointed as independent non-executive director;
- Dennis Venter has been appointed as non-independent non-executive director; and
- Rhys Summerton has been appointed as non-independent non-executive director.
‘Integral role’
De la Rey is currently CEO of iOCO South Africa, EOH’s largest operating subsidiary. According to EOH, he “played an integral role in the restructuring of EOH and has been on the EOH executive committee since 2019”.
Prior to joining EOH in 2019, he spent five years at Absa as CEO of distribution coverage and customer channels and a further five years prior to that at Standard Bank as head of group real estate and head of channel development. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
