JOHANNESBURG - The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) has today called on the government to sack Telkom’s board with immediate effect citing that the board's missteps and failure to implement a strategy had contributed to the company’s demise.
Fedusa wants Minister Pravin Gordhan and Minister Stella Ndabeni- Abrahams to immediately intervene days after Telkom said it planned to retrench 3 000 employees as the business continued underperformed in a tight economy.
“The current Telkom trajectory only paves the way for yet another Eskom crisis. The current Eskom Board should be dismissed with immediate effect and equally be declared delinquent for their contributory roles in failing to avert the possible demise of Telkom,” Fedusa said.
Fedusa said it was outraged with the planned retrenchments saying the company had stopped investing in fibre 18 months ago, giving spectrum to the competition when it had an opportunity to reverse its past failures.
In a formal notice issued to organised labour on Wednesday, Telkom said South Africa’s depressed economy, regulatory uncertainty and a tough competitive environment had taken a toll on its business.
Alfie Ngubo, Telkom’s group executive for employee relations, said in the letter the retrenchments would impact its support employees, specialists, supervisors and managers in the Openserve, consumer business, small and medium business, and the Telkom corporate centre divisions.
“For Telkom to survive the current and anticipated tough trading conditions - forecast to deteriorate in the short to medium term - it is imperative to seek and implement measures to drastically reduce costs, eliminate efficiencies and improve operational and financial performance to secure its continued commercial viability and, therefore, security for the majority of employees,” Ngubo said in the letter.