Sello Moloko, one of SA’s best-known business leaders with over three decades in the financial services industry, has been urged by the Prudential Authority to step down as chair of Telkom and focus his attention on Absa, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Moloko, who took over from Wendy Lucas-Bull to lead a nine-person Absa board at the beginning of April, also heads the board of Telkom, a role he has occupied since 2019 to replace the late Jabu Mabuza.
His departure would punch a leadership hole in the board of Telkom, which became the centre of attraction in recent months when MTN pitched an all-share takeover deal, only to pull out after Rain waded into the battle for SA’s second-largest mobile phone operator.
For Telkom shareholders, which include the custodian of more than R2.5-trillion in government employee pensions, the Public Investment Corporation, if Moloko quits it would mean the board is one person short to guide and provide oversight to the management led by Serame Taukobong to release billions of rand trapped in the company’s sprawling infrastructure.
Both Telkom, of which the government owns about 40%, and the Prudential Authority, the bank supervision unit within the Reserve Bank, led by deputy governor Fundi Tshazibana, declined to comment
For the Prudential Authority, Moloko’s exit from Telkom would free him up to devote his energies to one of the nationally systemic banks at a time when the industry is looking for new income streams to fend off competition from nimbler app-only banks.
The sources, who spoke to Business Day on condition of anonymity, said Telkom has considered appointing as chair Mteto Nyati, former CEO of Altron and MTN’s SA division who joined the board of Telkom in July. Nyati has since taken the role of executive chair of boutique technology consulting outfit BSG after getting a 40% stake.
Soweto-born
Moloko, a Soweto-born mathematics graduate, is among the most respected business leaders in the country with a career spanning close to 30 years in the financial services industry. He is a former CEO of Old Mutual Asset Managers.
He has guided the boards of companies such as mining house Sibanye-Stillwater, pension funds administrator Alexforbes and General Reinsurance Africa Limited, a division of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. He has also served on the boards of Prudential Investment Managers, DG Capital and Stor-Age Reit.
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