Molotsane must resign

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 20 March 2007

Papi Molotsane, Telkom’s Chief Executive, should be forced to resign as soon as possible, that is if Telkom shareholders don’t want to see more key executives pack their bags and go, and eventually see how Telkom goes down the drain.

It’s clear that Molotsane’s 16-month reign at Telkom needs to come to an end before more damage is done by ‘…his lack of experience and poor leadership…’ among other things (Exodus at Telkom makes one wonder about Molotsane’s leadership, Wray, Business Report, 19 March 2007).

Can Telkom shareholders afford not to replace him as soon as possible?

Well, one doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to know how damaging the resignation of senior executives can be to a company’s health.

Telkom already lost two key executives, Thami Msimang and Wally Beelders, last week not to speak of rumours that more resignations are not far off. This excludes senior executives who initially left when Molotsane was appointed.

‘Losing executives of the calibre of Msimang and Beelders, who are highly rated in the market, poses a major challenge for Molotsane’ (Exodus at Telkom makes one wonder about Molotsane’s leadership, Wray, Business Report, 19 March 2007).

In other words, Telkom shareholders must take firm action or gamble Telkom’s future down the drain by supporting the likes of Molotsane.

Who will be the next to resign?

Hopefully Molotsane himself will get on the first boat that leaves.

Is there any hope that Molotsane will turn out to be the leader Telkom needs?

Well, we won’t bet a day’s wage on Molotsane’s chances of success. Too much damage was already done during his reign…

It’s no secret that ADSL South Africa don’t have a lot of love for Telkom, but we would hate to see the giant going down because of bad leadership, and also because the South African economy will take a massive knock should that ever happen (assuming that Neotel will not be able to fill the massive gap that will be left). We’re however convinced that there’s still time left to turn the ship away from the rocks…

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) is convinced that Telkom will go down the drain should its shareholders fail to get rid of Molotsane in time.