Vodacom will contest a subpoena issued by the Labour Court to release findings of a document compiled by auditing firm KPMG.
The court has requested the controversial document that was commissioned to investigate 18 accusations against Vodacom staff, including one of nepotism against the company's former CEO, Alan Knott-Craig.
It has emerged that the labour dispute has been called by one of Vodacom's former financial managers, Mandla Mdluli, who is also a prominent member of the Tiger Consortium. He has also been linked with the accusations against Knott-Craig and other Vodacom employees.
The Tiger Consortium is made up of black Vodacom employees and black business partners.
Two years ago, the consortium battled Vodacom on the company's historical BEE deal, when it filed an interdict to prevent it from going ahead with the R7.5 billion plan, after it lost a bid to be part of the deal.
The case was heard in the Johannesburg High Court, and Tiger lost the interdict, which then allowed the BEE deal to go ahead. When the case came to court, it was reportedly revealed that Mdluli had lied in his affidavit and, therefore, perjured himself.
Vodacom spokesman Richard Boorman says Mdluli was let go because of his conduct. “He was dismissed for lying under oath and bringing the company into disrepute,” he says. After he was let go, Mdluli made the accusations against the Vodacom employees, which, according to Boorman, is what led to the KPMG report.
Mdluli is trying to be reinstated to his position, and the Labour Court has requested the report to check the details provided by Mdluli.
Knott-Craig has defended his business practices, saying he believes he has not done anything wrong. However, the company has not released the contents of the report, and plans to prevent it getting into the legal arena.
Vodacom has also defended its former head, saying that, while the accusations needed investigation, no action would be taken against those labelled in the report. Through this independent process, both of these cases were reviewed to the satisfaction of Vodacom's shareholders, and in neither case was it deemed necessary to take any action against any individuals, it says.
“All the recommendations made by this report were implemented well in advance of Vodacom's listing as a public company,” it explained in a statement.
Vodacom will want this new saga to blow over soon, as it is in the process of battling its partner in the Congo over claims of fraud.
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