Minister votes against male directors at Telkom AGM

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has voted against the nomination of “several male directors” at the 30th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Telkom.

Ntshavheni says she will continue to advocate for and coordinate the government vote for the representation of both women and the youth in both the board and the executive management of Telkom.

The minister raised the issue of gender representation as an area of specific concern at last year’s AGM.

“The board of directors of Telkom continue to show lack of gender parity, and the new appointments or reappointments fly in the face of this genuine concern.”

“It is worrisome that only 31% of the board members are female. It is even worse to note that the Audit Committee has only one female in a five-member committee. In addition, the appointments do not consider succession planning in terms of introducing younger people in the board,” said Ntshavheni.

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The Communication and Digital Technologies Department says Ntshavheni’s choice of voting on some of the resolutions is a matter of principle, to highlight the fact that Telkom has not engaged with the minister on these resolutions as part Telkom’s stakeholders’ management despite the significant shareholding that government has in Telkom.

Government shareholding in Telkom is 40,51%.

Digital Migration

Meanwhile, Ntshavheni says the digital migration process is national priority, and it must be completed without any further delay for the benefit of the country.

“The Broadcast Digital Migration (BDM) process delays have negatively affected the development of ICT sector in particular, it has delayed broadband penetration across the country, in particular in rural and per-urban areas.”

“At the last Briefing, I announced the 30th of September 2022, as the final date for applications of government subsidized Set-Top Boxes. The extended window aims to provide a further opportunity for needy households to make applications and register for Government Subsidized STBs.”

The final registration date of the 30 September was published through the Government Gazette.

Ntshavheni adds public awareness campaigns has been ramped up to ensure the digital migration message reaches South Africans irrespective of where they are.

Ntshavheni says the total number of new registered households between April 2022 and July 2022 now stands at 61 155 and this translates to an average of 15 288 registrations per month, therefore, representing a decline in STB applications and registrations.

“Based on the consolidated number of registrations and installations, including the rolled over numbers from KZN and EC provinces due to floods, we are now left with approximately 244 000 installations to complete,” she said.

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