The appointment of former Transnet Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Nonkululeko Dlamini as the new CFO of Telkom, has come in for some criticism in light of Transnet’s financial woes in the last year.
Dlamini, who was also an executive on the board, submitted her resignation and left the company on Friday after serving a month’s notice. Her resignation comes at the same time as Transnet Group Chief Executive (GCE) Portia Derby also stepped down from her role.
In a statement on Friday, Transnet noted the departure of the two executives and said the period of the current executives’ tenure was impacted by the global Covid-19 pandemic, immediately thereafter the looting, the hacking of the ICT system, the floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the strike towards the end of 2022, all of which had adversely impacted Transnet.
On the same day, Telkom announced Dlamini would be appointed as the Group CFO and an executive director with effect from December 1.
“Ms Dlamini is a qualified Chartered Accountant and currently the Group CFO at Transnet SOC Ltd.
“She was previously the CFO at the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa and Acting CFO at Eskom and has held various other management positions within Eskom.
“Ms Dlamini has experience serving as a Non-Executive Director on the boards of Kumba Iron Ore Limited and Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA).
“The above appointment will result in Mr Dirk Reyneke, the incumbent Group CFO, stepping down from the Board, with effect from November 30 and assuming the role of Chief Capital Projects Officer within the company.
“In addition, Mr Reyneke will work closely with Ms Dlamini to ensure her seamless transition to the Group CFO role.
The Board looks forward to welcoming Ms Dlamini as the Group CFO and to the Board and looks forward to her contribution to the Company,” Telkom said.
The DA called on Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mondli Gungubele, to rescind the appointment which they labelled “cadre deployment”.
DA MP Natasha Mazzone said: “As Transnet CFO she has left behind an organisation saddled with a debt of R130.1 billion and paying R1 billion in interest every month on the debt.
“With such a poor and disastrous professional record, Gungubele must explain why they decided to appoint Dlamini to become Telkom’s new financial chief.
The appointment raises questions about Telkom's decision-making process. It is perplexing that Ms. Dlamini was seen as ‘fit for purpose’ for the role at Telkom,” said Mazzone.
Lecturer of professional ethics at Unisa, Mametlwe Sebei said in his view there was a problem with the way the ANC was deploying.
“The issue is they represent a particular faction of capital an affluent Black capitalist class that depends on its accumulation of capital by means of plunder and looting of the state. The DA doesn’t really present us with a better alternative, they speak to privatisation and outsourcing. Both of them represent the dispossession of the working class. None of these represent a fundamental alternative to the plight of the working class,” he said.
Dlamini, Gungubele, Transnet and Telkom did not respond to further requests for comment by deadline on Sunday.
Cape Times