Charismatic empowerment advocate and IT industry personality Mthunzi Mdwaba has been “removed” from his position as deputy CEO of Kelly Group. He has also been stripped of his directorship.
Mdwaba is CEO of Kelly’s technology training subsidiary, Torque IT.
Kelly Group put out a strongly worded statement to shareholders yesterday in which it said Mdwaba had been removed from the board with immediate effect.
But it made no comment about a pending investigation into Mdwaba, which is now underway.
Mdwaba, who is still in the employ of Kelly Group, told TechCentral on Wednesday that he had also been suspended from the company “pending an enquiry”.
He said he was told about his suspension just moments after the announcement went out to shareholders yesterday.
Mdwaba refused to elaborate on why he had been suspended or why he was under investigation. “It only happened yesterday and I am still trying to get my head around it,” he said.
“My side of the story will come out soon.”
Kelly Group CEO Grenville Wilson was evasive when phoned for comment. He refused to say why Mdwaba had been removed from the board, saying it was a board issue.
“I can’t comment beyond what is in the Sens statement,” he said.
Mdwaba joined Kelly Group in August 2008 when the JSE-listed company bought Torque IT for R38m.
At the time, Torque IT was 55% black-owned and Wilson said it would add to Kelly’s empowerment status.
Mdwaba was appointed to the company’s board three months later as an executive director.
Well-known in the IT industry, Mdwaba has served for various technology associations, including Business Unity SA and the Black IT Forum.
He is also a member of the steering committee tasked with crafting the black economic empowerment charter that will govern the technology industry.
He has also been chairman of the State IT Agency’s annual technology conference, GovTech, for the past three years. — Candice Jones, TechCentral
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