Telecommunications

Telkom executives take home millions

Staff Writer

 ·28 Jul 2014

Telkom’s executives and prescribed officers took home a combined salary of nearly R60 million for the financial year ended March 2014, despite ongoing mass retrenchments within the group.

Telkom is currently embroiled in a dispute with a host of unions as it aims to reduce its management pool which will affect up to 2,650 managerial staff.

The company is looking to reduce the number of management layers and achieve an employee cost-to-revenue ratio of 25% over the next 5 years, from 30% currently.

Telkom has also rejected allegations that race is being considered as the only criteria for the placement of employees in it’s new employment structure.

In an integrated annual report for 2014, Telkom noted that 11 of the groups top people took home R59.66 million, with CEO Sipho Maseko receiving a total package of R11.7 million, while chief financial officer, Jacques Schindehütte, who was suspended in October 2013, received R6 million.

The total in 2014 was well below the R69 million paid to the group’s leaders in 2013.

Enzo Scarcella, who was appointed in February as the new chief marketing officer, received a R3 million sign-on bonus, while Alphonzo Samuels, appointed as chief technology officer, had total pay which reflected one and a half months in the position.

Deon Fredericks took home R6.6 million, which included an allowance from October 2013 to March 2014 in his capacity as acting chief financial officer.

Telkom’s total executive management team of 37, took home as much as R123.6 million in the 2014 financial year.

Telkom Exco 2014 Share allocations

Telkom Exco 2014 salaries

In June, Telkom reported an operating profit of R4.6 billion for the year ended March 2014, from a prior loss of R11.15 billion in 2013.

Headline earnings per share, excluding the once off items, increased 35.1% to 388 cents, Telkom said.

The group’s share price has also advanced on the JSE as much as 170% over the past year, with a market cap exceeding R25 billion, from a lowly R8 billion last year.

Telkom also said it reduced its employee count by 9.5% during the financial period ended March 2013, to 19,197, from 21,209  before.

Maseko said that on a scale of one to 10, his assessment of what the group has achieved is 8.5.

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