Outgoing Telkom chief financial officer Peter Nelson has sold nearly R1,8m worth of the group’s shares in the open market just days after he announced he would be stepping down from the telecommunications group.

Telkom informed the market late on Tuesday that Nelson sold 53 421 ordinary shares last Friday, 23 July, a week after he surprised shareholders by announcing he was quitting.

Nelson is leaving Telkom, sources say, because he is frustrated with the way the group is being led by its board of directors, and particularly by government-appointed chairman Jeff Molobela.

The finance chief tendered his resignation just days after former Telkom CEO Reuben September announced he would leave his post before his contract expired in November. September left after clashing with Molobela.

The board under Molobela has since appointed former Cell C CEO Jeffrey Hedberg as acting group CEO until a full-time CEO can be installed.

Hedberg will address the media at a breakfast on Wednesday morning in Johannesburg at which he is expected to outline his strategy for Telkom. It’s expected he’ll face a barrage of questions over the group’s strategy for its failing Nigerian operation, Multi-Links, which senior group sources say is bankrupt and unable to pay salaries to its staff.

It’s understood Nelson wanted Multi-Links shut down, but Hedberg and Molobela are less keen to close it, believing it can be saved. A Telkom source says Nelson has butted heads with Molobela over Multi-Links’s future.

Nelson’s decision to quit has caused unease among Telkom investors. Within minutes of the announcement 10 days ago that he was leaving, Telkom’s share price plunged more than 3%.

In a recent interview, Nelson told TechCentral he was leaving because he’d had enough of trying to deal with the problems afflicting the telecoms group.

“At the end of the day, I just find that if we as an executive, and myself as an individual, if we can’t convey our views successfully [to the board] then [we] must also be prepared to step back,” he said at the time. “We can’t have extended differences of opinion.”

Nelson’s notice period ends on 9 October. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral