Government ups Telkom stake
The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has increased its stake in Telkom to 13.25%, from 10.61%, while the government of South Africa has a 39.76% stake in the telco.
This takes government’s overall holding in Telkom to 53% as the PIC is wholly owned by the South African Government, with the Minister of Finance as shareholder representative.
“Our current shareholding is 13.253% . The increase in shareholding reflects the increase in the weighting of Telkom in the JSE SWIX Index,” said acting CEO at PIC, Matshepo More.
Tekom’s share price has been the best tech performer on the JSE in 2014, up more than 172%, while the group has also reversed its prior losses.
At a recent media roundtable, Telkom CEO, Sipho Maseko said that the group has created a new dynamic with government.
Maseko noted that he has been through three communications ministers during his time as CEO at the group, including Dina Pule, Yunus Carrim, and now Siyabonga Cwele, who was recently named as new minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services.
“They (government) haven’t interfered with us. None of them has ever asked us to do things, that we didn’t want to do. In fact, none of them has ever asked us to do anything. We set up the right tone of interaction, we created the right channel,” Maseko said.
Maseko said that the group has created a new strategy to lead it towards success.
“Some of the instruments to get us there, we already, have, and some we don’t, he said. In life you can’t work with everything certain, you need to live with a bit of uncertainty. So some elements we are not certain about. Thats okay, at least we are clear. Every day feels better,” the CEO said.
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