Having won his fight against Telkom for unfair dismissal, former COO Motlatsi Nzeku has been reinstated as managing director of Telkom International, effective immediately.
Nzeku will fill the position after former MD of Telkom International Thami Msimango accepted a voluntary severance package in May last year.
However, Nzeku comes on board in his new role shortly after acting CEO Jeffrey Hedberg announced the company's intentions to cool its African strategy, on the back of its decision to pull out of the CDMA business in its Nigerian operation, Multi-Links.
Nzeku's reinstatement came after an arbitration process that found that his dismissal had been unfair. The fixed-line operator was left with the choice to either reinstating him or reaching a settlement agreement that would sever the relationship amicably.
However, the company was not in a position to offer Nzeku his old position, after a restructuring process had removed the position of COO from the Telkom corporate structure. It was Nzeku's opposition to this corporate restructuring that had been the main cause of his dismissal.
Telkom noted at the time that Nzeku had opposed the operator's restructuring to the point where his role had become extremely divisive and counterproductive, and that it had indications his actions had resulted in reputational damage.
The situation prompted analysts to advise against Nzeku's re-entry into the company.
Telecoms analyst Richard Hurst, currently a senior analyst with Ovum, argued that the nature of the situation would make it difficult for Nzeku to try and fit in at Telkom again. “It would be a case of a square peg in a round hole,” he said.
African strategy
Nzeku may have to sit tight in his new role, considering Hedberg's strategy to cool Telkom's growth in Africa. Speaking at Telkom's interim presentation late last year, Hedberg explained that Telkom needs to focus on cash-generating areas of its business.
However, Hedberg stressed that this did not mean the telco would ignore its focus on repositioning its African assets, but that it would, at a later stage, look at new opportunities for investment.
“We are not ignoring Africa, but we need to get the local business stable and we need more maturity on how we as a business manage these assets. After repositioning our existing assets, we will look at investment opportunities in Africa again.”
However, Hedberg's strategy may be revised when a permanent CEO is installed. Hedberg is due to step down at the end of March.
Meanwhile, Nzeku will likely play an integral role in Telkom's plans to consolidate Multi-Links' data and fibre business and iWayAfrica.
Hedberg is confident of the success of Multi-Links' data and long-distance fibre network offering, arguing that the vertical industries in Nigeria provide a strong business case for the asset. Especially since no incumbent operator currently exists in Nigeria.
Telkom also committed to reposition iWayAfrica to focus enterprise customers across 32 countries across Africa.
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