Telkom in R91 million contract mess

Bloomberg reported that Telkom awarded a R91.1 million advisory contract to Bain & Co without following an open bidding process (full report here).

According to Bloomberg, documents showed that “there was no record of a published or archived competitive process that led to the selection of Bain, the Boston-based management consulting firm”.

Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko hired Bain to advise the company on its broadband and mobile strategy.

The report states that Bain was picked within days of the CEO’s arrival at Telkom on April 1, 2013.

This news follows only days after a report that Maseko was at the centre of a City of Johannesburg metro police (JMPD) investigation into a car licence cloning scandal.

Telkom said in response that it is a matter “that is personal to Mr Maseko and is in no way related to Telkom”. “As such, Maseko will deal with it in his personal capacity”.

Telkom added that it is aware that Maseko has presented himself to the authorities and that he is committed to resolving the issue within the ambit of the law.

“Telkom trusts that he will continue to work with the relevant authorities until the matter is resolved and therefore has no further comment on this matter,” the company said.

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Telkom CEO in car licence cloning scandal