After a protracted and mysterious battle Kelly Group’s former director and deputy CEO, Mthunzi Mdwaba, will part ways with the recruitment firm.

The charismatic empowerment advocate and IT industry personality was “removed” from his position as deputy CEO and was stripped of his directorship in late August.

Mdwaba was also CEO of Kelly’s technology training subsidiary, Torque IT.

Since then the group has been tightlipped about the decision and over the past three months Mdwaba and Kelly have been in and out of hearings, culminating in an arbitration process that was concluded late last month.

In a statement released at the weekend, Kelly said the group had reached a settlement with Mdwaba. However, it did not release the details of the settlement.

It was speculated that Mdwaba would be given Torque IT, the company he sold to Kelly Group. However, it appears the group has not let go of the profitable IT training business.

Mdwaba declined to comment on the matter, saying doing so would be against the spirit of the settlement.

As part of the settlement Mdwaba will leave the Kelly Group.

“As a consequence of the rift that developed between Mdwaba and the board, Mdwaba recognizes that there is no reasonable prospect to continue as an employee of the company and has come to an agreement with the company,” said Kelly’s statement.

Mdwaba will not say what his future holds just yet.

But his departure does not signal the end of Kelly’s problems. It’s still facing possible charges by business development director Connie Motshumi.

Not long after Mdwaba was suspended, the group accused Motshumi of making fraudulent travel claims. But the amount under dispute is understood to be less than R150. — Candice Jones, TechCentral