MTN has confirmed that 86 former iTalk employees were formally retrenched last week.
However, MTN says it has not given up hope of finding them permanent placement within the company.
“We aggressively continue to pursue opportunities within the organisation to place these retrenched employees in other positions at MTN, which may result in this number being reduced,” says MTN SA HR executive Themba Nyathi.
According to Nyathi, the company has managed to find positions within MTN for 122 of the original 208 employees that were acquired with iTalk.
The telecoms company has been lambasted by several industry watchers over the possible retrenchment of iTalk staff.
MTN snapped up the KwaZulu-Natal-based service provider at the beginning of the year, after the Competition Tribunal unconditionally approved the merger. Rival bidder the Huge Group contested the deal through the Competition Commission and Tribunal, saying MTN would dissolve iTalk and diminish competition.
iTalk was already 49%-owned by MTN and the mobile company exercised its pre-emptive rights for the distributor's remaining shares, taking out Huge's bid for a majority stake in the business.
iTalk only ever distributed MTN products and, in an interview with ITWeb at the time, the company explained its intention after the acquisition was to make the distributor a branded MTN set of stores.
The company ran into trouble with the acquisition, because it did not complete a full due diligence process, as it exercised its pre-emptive rights to buy out the remaining shares.
“MTN acquired iTalk in good faith with good intentions to preserve all jobs. The detailed analysis of the business which followed showed us where alignment with MTN's business would result in duplication of functions, as the plan was always to integrate iTalk functions into MTN,” the company explained earlier this year.
It adds that where the company cannot transfer the staff members, it is working to help with training and career counselling.
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