Curious case of the cloned plates

The controversy over Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko, who was accused of driving with fake number plates, nearly slipped off the radar at the company's annual general meeting on Wednesday.

That was until one shareholder stood up and demanded answers.

The greying investor, who asked not to be named, confronted Telkom chairman Jabu Mabuza head on about the impact that the incident had on Maseko's credibility.

Mabuza leapt to Maseko's defence, saying he would not allow Maseko to respond.

"This is a personal matter. Sipho was not charged with any crime," replied Mabuza, before saying that Maseko had co-operated with authorities, who seemed to have abandoned the matter.

"All he knows is what he reads in the papers. We are satisfied by Sipho's answers."

This investor was not alone. Other shareholders had apparently written directly to Telkom to demand answers, according to Mabuza.

The incident itself seemed unusual, to say the least.

The Star newspaper reported that Maseko had been driving his black Range Rover with cloned number plates. It reported that he was being investigated for displaying the same number plates as the person who had bought his previous black Range Rover.

But Mabuza specifically neg-lected to clarify at the meeting whether Maseko had indeed done this.

This omission was not lost on that shareholder, who said afterwards that Mabuza's "long-winded" explanation did not clarify anything.

Telkom also failed to clarify the reason for Jacques Schindehütte's suspension.

Schindehütte left Telkom this month, taking early retirement, thus putting an end to a long disciplinary process.

"[Schindehütte's suspension] has nothing to do with share trading and nothing to do with anything else," said Mabuza.

Telkom has been castigated for poor transparency because of its failure to reveal why it had suspended its top financial official.

Mabuza only said the company had no choice but to suspend him after it got an independent forensic report that implicated Schindehütte in unspecified irregularities.

But, after nine months, nothing could be proved and Schindehütte retired with full benefits after he turned 55, a development for which there was provision in company policy.

Telkom has been operating without a full-time financial director for nearly a year.

Maseko said after the meeting that a process to find a replacement for Schindehütte had started.

The outcome will be announced within two weeks.

Mabuza said Schindehütte's resignation was accepted "after careful consideration" to free the executive team to focus on "the business of the day".

Schindehütte was suspended on October 24 last year. It later emerged that he bought shares worth R6-million on the open market with a loan from Telkom, which led to a probe by the JSE for possible insider trading - although none of this was in his "charge sheet", according to well-placed sources.

Mabuza dismissed talk that Telkom had failed to be transparent about this, saying the company had followed due process and adhered to a non-disclosure agreement.

Ultimately, the controversies failed to shake investor confidence noticeably, as all the resolutions were approved at the meeting.

Mabuza said the Telkom board intended to recruit new members with a new range of skills.

Leslie Maasdorp, a board member, stepped down from the board to join listed private school group Advtech as CEO, Mabuza said.