Vodacom plans to block former exec, Godfrey Motsa, from starting to work at rival mobile network MTN next month.
"Vodacom will seek full compliance with the restraint of trade, which expires on 31 December 2016, and confirmed by the Labour Court Order ruling on the matter in February this year," Vodacom's executive head of media relations, Byron Kennedy, told ITWeb.
This, after MTN announced yesterday the former Vodacom chief officer for consumer business has been appointed as VP of MTN South and East Africa, excluding SA, and would start at the company on 1 July.
Vodacom, however, insists Motsa can't work for any company that engages in similar business undertakings as it does, until January 2017.
The Johannesburg Labour Court ruled in February that Motsa is bound by his contract of employment to serve a six-month notice period - which expires on 30 June 2016 - as well as an additional six-month restraint of trade agreement thereafter, which only expires on 31 December 2016. This "precludes him from taking up employment with any company that engages in similar business activities as Vodacom during that time".
At the time, Vodacom's lawyers, ENSafrica, said the ruling was "precedent setting" and "a first-of-its-kind judgment".
Motsa resigned from his post at Vodacom on 23 December 2015, after 10 years with the company. He was previously the MD of Vodacom Lesotho, MD of Vodacom Congo, and most recently, chief officer of the consumer business unit. He was also a director at Vodacom and a member of the Vodacom group executive committee.
His resignation also saw him forfeit R6.7 million worth of Vodacom shares awarded to him in November 2015 as part of incentive remunerations. According to the conditions of the forfeitable shares, they are supposed to be vested for three years, and are subject to the achievement of performance targets during that time.
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