Listed IT services company EOH has confirmed Andrew Mthembu as its chairman, effective from last week.
Mthembu has been acting in the capacity since January following the demise of the late Dr Xolani Mkhwanazi, who was chairman of the board at the time of his passing on 4 January.
Stephen van Coller, EOH Group CEO, said at the time of Dr Mkhwanazi’s death: “I worked closely with Dr Mkhwanazi who played a pivotal role in helping to guide EOH towards a better future.
“Dr Mkhwanazi led the board deliberations on all group matters, but most notably during the tough deliberations around the findings of the ENSafrica investigation commissioned by EOH into public sector contracts. During this period, Dr Mkhwanazi braved a difficult time, always striving to do the right thing. He grasped the issues and dealt with them quickly. He will be sorely missed.”
Now, the company says Mthembu, who joined the EOH board in June 2019, will take over on a substantive basis. Mthembu already serves on three committees of the EOH board: he chairs the technology and information committee, and also serves on the audit committee as well as the governance and risk committee.
It says while a number of external candidates were considered, “given the challenging past year, the board considered that Mr Mthembu’s industry experience, knowledge of EOH and the requirement for continuity made him the best candidate for the role”.
“The board congratulates Mr Mthembu on his appointment and looks forward to his ongoing contribution,” reads the EOH statement announcing his appointment.
The company has had several challenges during the past year, with an ENSafrica investigation finding evidence of a number of governance failings and wrongdoing.
The IT services firm requested ENSafrica to conduct a proactive, comprehensive investigation into EOH contracts to identify any wrongdoing or criminal conduct in the acquisition, award or execution of contracts.
At the time, the probe found R1.2 billion worth of suspicious transactions at EOH. The transactions mostly involved public sector contracts.
The company then went on to say it was looking to “ring-fence” its problematic contracts into a single entity before blacklisting 50 corruption-tainted entities within the group.