The trade union Solidarity today described the decision by Mr Jeffrey Hedberg, an expert in the field of turnaround strategies, not to renew his contract as Telkom's chief executive officer in March of this year as a calamity for Telkom. The trade union also warned that Telkom could not afford more political appointments at this stage and that it should appoint specialists to revitalise the ailing communication company.

"Telkom's dramatic decline of the past five years is undoubtedly attributable to the fact that three of the four Telkom chief executives during the period have been political appointments," explained  Marius Croucamp, Solidarity spokesperson. It is also widely speculated that government, Telkom's majority shareholder, would prefer a black CEO.

"During his short tenure as CEO, Hedberg clearly stated his belief that a turnaround strategy for Telkom should be based on meaningful business considerations ‒ and not on politicking. That included, among others, the recruitment and retention of skills within Telkom, which could have lead to appointments at variance with Telkom's transformation policy," Croucamp said.

"Telkom employees have not enjoyed a stable working environment during the past five years," according to Croucamp. "There have been just too many new managers who came and went, each one eager to leave his or her particular stamp." It is also not expected that Mr Jeff Molobela would remain in office as chairman of the Telkom board for too long.

"Hedberg's resignation is a disaster. Telkom now needs the stability and leadership to successfully follow out a turnaround strategy," Croucamp concluded.

Hedberg had been the CEO of Cell C from 2006 to 2009 when he took over at Multi-Links, Telkom's struggling subsidiary. He was appointed acting chief executive officer of Telkom shortly afterwards.

Statement issued by Ilze Nieuwoudt, Spokesperson: Solidarity, January 18 2011

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