A new dossier, which apparently makes new allegations about corporate governance problems at Telkom, has prompted the telecommunications group to go on the offensive by issuing a statement decrying its contents.

In the statement, issued on Tuesday evening, Telkom warns that the new dossier, which TechCentral has not seen, contains a “collection of untested allegations produced by a group of anonymous individuals who do not have the courage to make their identities public”.

Telkom SA MD Nombulelo Moholi says in the statement that she is “annoyed at having to respond to yet another dossier from the same sources, whose motives are known, and who continually trade with distorted information they obtain through the privilege of their positions”.

Senior Telkom sources say top executives at the operator blame former group chief operating officer Motlatsi Nzeku for being behind the dossiers. Nzeku was fired by former Telkom group CEO Reuben September.

The latest document “purports to be authored by a group calling itself the ‘Faceless Concerned Citizens”, Telkom says.

“It is the board’s view that given the uncertainty about the leadership [of Telkom] … certain individuals will seek to position themselves to damage the reputation of the company, and this may not be the last dossier.”

Telkom says it “remains committed to investigating all the allegations in detail and to seek corroborative evidence to confirm or reject these allegations decisively”.

Outgoing acting group CEO Jeffrey Hedberg says Telkom is taking the allegations seriously but says it is “unfortunate that the time and energy of the executive team has to be expended in diversions of this nature”.

Meanwhile, it’s widely speculated that President Jacob Zuma will name Telkom’s new chairman in his state of the nation address to parliament next Thursday evening.

Businessman Lazarus Zim is said to be the firm favourite to take over as chairman from Jeff Molobela, whose contract has been extended to 15 February by communications minister Roy Padayachie. — Staff reporter, TechCentral