PARTIALLY state-owned telecommunications company Telkom rewarded outgoing group chief executive Sipho Maseko with a R35.4 million pay package during the financial year ended March 2021 – up from R21.8m a year ago – the company said in its annual report for the year ended March 2021, released yesterday.
Telkom said Maseko’s remuneration had included a R8.83m guaranteed package, a R10.2m short-term incentive (STI) , a R10m retention bonus and R6m in vested shares. Maseko did not receive a short term incentive in 2020.
Telkom, South Africa’s third-largest mobile operator, said it would pay the retention balance of R10m in the 2022 financial year.
Telkom said on Friday that Maseko would step down next year after eight years at the helm.
Maseko’s counterpart Vodacom chief executive, Shameel Joosub, received R55m pay pre-tax in the 2021 financial year, up 26 percent from R43.4m a year ago. Joosub received R30.2m post tax, from R23.8m a year ago.
The group paid former group financial chief officer Tsholofelo Molefe was paid R8.4m up from R5.4m in 2020 when she did not receive a short-term incentive.
Molefe, who submitted her resignation as an employee and director of the company in December 2020, now serves as chief financial officer at MTN, Africa’s mobile giant. Her last day of duty was March 31, 2021 as per the employment contract, and no settlement agreement was reached between the parties and she therefore did not qualify for any settlement payments.
“However, she forfeited all unvested shares as well as her STI payment for the 2021 financial year,” Telkom said.
Telkom paid Molefe’s successor Dirk Reyneke a R4.9m total salary in 2021, including R4m in STI and R1.8m in car insurance.
Telkom said the number of its permanent employees had declined to 12 039 at the end of March 2021, down from 15 099 a year earlier.
It said 2 271 employees had accepted voluntary severance packages (VSP) and 329 employees were forcefully retrenched at its Openserve and Telkom Consumer segments.
Sixty-two employees at Trudon, commonly known as Yellow Pages, had accepted VSPs and 17 employees were retrenched.
The group said its BCX subsidiary faced significant market and industry challenges such as the economic recession, deferred customer spending, changing customer demands and high competition – placing pressure on pricing and margins.
“Covid-19 exacerbated the challenges customers face, with some applying for business rescue while others requested payment relief or deep discounts,” Telkom said.
The group said 271 BCX employees had accepted VSPs and 101 employees were retrenched and exited the company on March 31, 2021.
dineo.faku@inl.co.za
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