Uncertainty continues to surround Telkom after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday where the company’s future was meant to be debated.
Communications minister Dina Pule said last week that she would present three options for the company’s future to cabinet, which is government’s highest decision-making body. But Telkom was left in limbo on Thursday after the minister issued a statement saying that “options for Telkom are following the cabinet processes”, without elaborating on what she meant by that.
Pule’s spokesman, Siya Qoza, could not immediately be reached to clarify the statement.
The statement says only that Pule is “unable to provide additional comment at this stage”.
“The government is committed to finding the most suitable and long-term solution that will ensure that Telkom is sustainable and is able to contribute meaningfully to the country’s infrastructure roll-out programme,” the statement concludes.
Cabinet had given Pule until the end of August to provide a report on what should happen to the operator, in which government continues to hold a direct 40% stake.
Pule had worked with several of her cabinet colleagues, including finance minister Pravin Gordhan and public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba, to draw up the options that were presented to cabinet this week.
Telkom said at the end of May that Pule had told the company that cabinet had decided not to support a proposed transaction to sell 20% of Telkom’s equity to Korea’s KT Corp, despite the two parties engaging in more than nine months of due diligence. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media
