Communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says she will continue to advocate for balanced gender representation on the board and executive management of Telkom.
The minister’s comments follow Telkom’s annual general meeting (AGM) held yesterday, where she voted against the nomination of several male directors, among which include former MTN SA and Altron CEO Mteto Nyati.
Ntshavheni’s assertions come as South Africa is about to close out Women's Month, which is marked annually in August, with national Women's Day celebrated on 9 August.
In a statement issued by her ministry the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT), the minister says sheraised the issue of gender representation as an area of specific concern at last year’s Telkom AGM.
However, the Telkom board of directors continues to show lack of gender parity and the new appointments or re-appointments fly in the face of this genuine concern, she states.
“It is worrisome that only 31% of the board members are female,” Ntshavheni exclaims. “It is even worse to note the Audit Committee has only one female in a five-member committee. In addition, the appointments do not consider succession planning in terms of introducing younger people in the board.”
The South African government holds a majority share in Telkom, with a 40.51% stake in the telephony group. In her capacity as communications minister, Ntshavheni acts on behalf of the state in matters relating to Telkom.
At the company’s AGM, several resolutions were presented and voted on as part of the proceedings.
Despite Ntshavheni’s vote against the nominations of several male directors, a SENS statement shows that all ordinary resolutions, which are the election of the board of directors, were passed by the requisite majority of Telkom shareholders.
According to the DCDT statement, the minister’s decision to vote on some of the resolutions is a matter of principle, to highlight the fact that Telkom has not engaged with her on these resolutions as part of Telkom’s stakeholders’ management, despite the significant shareholding government has in Telkom.
The statement adds: “The minister will continue to advocate for and coordinate the government vote for the representation of both women and the youth in both the board and the executive management of Telkom.”
Takeover bid under way
Minister Ntshavheni’s statement comes as Telkom is in ongoing discussions with MTN, which wants to take over the telephony company.
In July, Africa’s largest telecoms group MTN announced its intention to take control of the government majority-owned Telkom.
The takeover news prompted data-only network Rain and Toto Investments to also declare their interest in Telkom’s assets. However, Rain has subsequently withdrawn its Telkom merger proposal, following resistance from the Takeover Regulation Panel, which said Rain acted illegally in making its proposal public.
Government said it would await the outcome of the MTN and Telkom takeover talks before sharing its views on the matter.
This week, telcos MTN and Telkom said the takeover discussions are progressing, and urged shareholders to exercise caution when dealing in securities.
Talks about the potential sale of Telkom have been on-and-off over the last couple of years, with the state also dabbling with the idea a few times.
Government tested the waters in 2017, saying it would dispose of a portion of its Telkom shares to raise funds to bailout struggling South African Airways.
However, the following year, former telecommunications and postal services minister Dr Siyabonga Cwele said government’s plans to sell a portion of its stake in Telkom were no longer an option.
In 2012, Telkom and Korea-based KT Corporation announced they had, in principle, agreed on a per-share price for KT's purchase of a 20% stake in the telecoms operator.
However, government pulled the plug on a proposed strategic transaction between KT and Telkom. At the time, Cabinet said it had taken the decision not to support the transaction as proposed.
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