Cellular14.01.2014

Vodacom vs Vodacom: who is lying?

By Staff Writer

On 14 June 2012 Vodacom announced that Sipho Maseko, MD of Vodacom SA and COO of the Vodacom Group, decided to leave the company to pursue other interests. This news surprised the market as the resignation came only nine months after Maseko joined Vodacom.

Maseko has since joined Telkom as of 1 April 2013 as Group CEO at Telkom.

At the time the ‘immediate effect’ resignation sparked rumours that Maseko was asked to depart because of performance issues, but Vodacom chief officer of corporate affairs, Maya Makanjee rubbished these rumours.

Makanjee said at the time that the Vodacom board was actually surprised by Maseko’s sudden resignation, and that they unsuccessfully tried to convince Maseko to stay on for longer or to serve out his contract term.

Makanjee said that Maseko had to depart with ‘immediate effect’ to pursue other interests. However, she could not say what made the ‘other interest’ so pressing that Maseko could not stay on for a while longer to assist with the transition.

Bloomberg has now published information about Maseko’s departure which casts doubt on Vodacom’s initial claims.

According to a Bloomberg report, based on four people with knowledge of Maseko’s departure, his resignation followed complaints about his conduct on a U.S. business trip designed to reward sales agents.

Maseko told Bloomberg that “I’m not at liberty to say the reasons why I left Vodacom and what the settlement between myself and Vodacom was”.

Despite this new information Vodacom said that it stands by its previous statement that Maseko’s resignation came as a surprise. Vodacom also maintained that it tried to convince Maseko to stay.

This means that Vodacom’s official statement is in direct conflict with the Bloomberg report, which cites people with knowledge about the event who most likely work at Vodacom.

Statement from Telkom

Telkom said that Maseko’s departure from Vodacom followed a mutual settlement agreement between himself and Vodacom, which was outlined in a statement issued by Vodacom at the time.

“Maseko is bound by the confidential provisions of the settlement and is not at liberty to discuss it with third parties,” Telkom said.

“As the Group CEO at Telkom, Mr Maseko is currently focussed on turning the Company around and achieving its full potential to the benefit of all its stakeholders, and will not be distracted from this task.”