Union slams former Telkom CFO’s ‘wasteful’ R18.8 million paycheque

·28 Jul 2015

Trade union Solidarity has condemned the compensation paid to members of Telkom’s executive management, saying the group wasted the equivalent of 80 technicians’ salaries on its former chief financial officer.

In its latest financial report, Telkom noted that it paid former CFO Jacques Schindehutte R18.8 million for the financial year ended March.

This, while Schindehutte had been suspended and not working for the company since the end of 2013 due to “personal misconduct”. Schindehutte officially resigned on 8 August 2014.

Read: How much money Telkom executives took home in 2015

According to Marius Croucamp, head of Solidarity’s Communications Industry, the average technician employed by Telkom earns about R20,000 per month before deductions.

With the R18.8 million in unearned compensation paid to Schindehütte, Telkom could have paid the salaries of about 80 technicians for a year, he said.

“Given the massive retrenchment process at Telkom, we are aggrieved that Telkom has squandered so much money that could have been used to keep experts in its employ.”

“At meetings with Telkom we will once again warn the company to get its priorities right and to have its employees’ interests at heart.”

Solidarity has been leading the charge against Telkom’s retrenchment process, which aims to let go of 4,400 workers through early retirement and voluntary severance packages.

Telkom has called the union’s refusal to accept the packages for its members “unreasonable, unfair, and highly prejudicial”, and has opened the offer to unionised employees despite its objections.