Telkom denies sponsoring a South African Communist Party (SACP) event this past weekend.
This is despite Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow minister of communications Marian Shinn saying Telkom was one of the main sponsors of the party's 91st Celebratory Gala Dinner. Telkom was displayed as one of the sponsors of the event on banners at the dinner.
Yet the operator says it “did not sponsor the SACP Congress. However, Telkom bought a table at the dinner in order to entertain its stakeholders.”
Public sponsorship?
“The government owns 38.9% of Telkom. If the stake by the Public Investment Corporation is included, the South African public has a 51% investment in Telkom. This means that South African citizens paid, at least in part, for the lavish dinner enjoyed by SACP comrades,” says Shinn.
The shadow minister also says that in June, Telkom reported gross consolidated financial debt of about R7.2 billion, “which the company will likely struggle to service as analysts are predicting pressure on its profitability”.
Telkom is also expected to spearhead national broadband rollout and recently rejected the injection of significant funds from South Korean company KT Corporation to support this process.
Dodging responsibility
“One, therefore, has to question the decision to fund a party-political event. One struggles to imagine how this expenditure would contribute to the strategic objectives of the telecoms operator. Minister Pule has some explaining to do,” says Shinn.
However, the DOC is not taking responsibility, saying Telkom, as a JSE-listed company, does from time to time, make decisions with regards to sponsorships.
“In this case, Telkom management would be best placed to answer questions relating to the SACP event.”
The SACP did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.
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