OPEN

LETTER TO TELKOM CEO SIPHO MASEKO

Dear Sipho Maseko

Let me begin by congratulating you, sir, on Telkom having recently declared an increase in
earnings and revenue for 2017. We are told that this performance was buoyed by, among
others, the companys mobile business and Business Connexion (BCX) Enterprise division. In
these rather gloomy economic times in our country, it is always refreshing to learn of some
business growth, as in your case, where you declared an annual dividend of 422 cents per
share, up 56.3 percent.

Kudos to you and your team. This is another case of black excellence at its best and a big
feather in the cap of the countrys transformation agenda.

But sir, Im a bit conflicted.

I learned recently that your company had invited advertising agencies to bid for a piece of
business at your behest.

So being the eternal optimist that I am, as a young South African today, I waited with baited
breath to hear who from the myriad of talented South African advertising agencies would
win the account. Telkom is, after all, a South African entity with 40% government
shareholding so, naturally, one expects it to be among the forerunners of the countrys
transformation and economic agenda.

However to my dismay and absolute confusion, I am told that the account was awarded to
WPPs Wunderman, a multinational agency based in the United States, part of Rubicam.

Now sir, as a professional myself, I can appreciate the need to pick the best agency. I
advocate for excellence myself. After all, we have enough underperforming parastatals as it
is, so really we need the best people for every job. I am also sure that your preferred
candidate passed a litany of requirements that will bring the best outcome to your
flourishing business. However, from where I am sitting, this is a spit in the face of South
Africa and a gross violation of our economic transformation ambitions.

How does a company that is 40% owned by the people of South Africa explain its continued
stance to sideline South African suppliers for overseas companies? For before appointing
Wunderman, your company was working with another multinational, DDB, and is now back
to WPP.

Is Telkom so averse to real transformation or are our local advertising agencies just
hopelessly pathetic?

You know sir, during the times of Sizwe Nxasana, Papi Moletsane and most recently Pinky
Moholi, Telkom worked a lot with black agencies. This is the time when the entity came up
with some of its most exciting campaigns, such as Homecoming and the immortal Molo
Mhlobam to name just these two. For its troubles, the company became one of South
Africas most loved brands, according to the Sunday Times-Markinor Top Brands Survey.
And today, we continue to celebrate these wonderful stewards of black excellence.

But now, the return of these multinational agencies, in your tenure, almost feels like a
reversal (more over for the South African advertising industry which remains one of the
most untransformed).

I bet the South African public resonates less with you partnering with Usain Bolt, on your
Boltspeed campaign than they would if you had worked with the fastest in the world
today, our very own, Wayde Van Niekerk. Anaso Jobodwana, an Olympic bronze medalist,
says your insistence to use Usain Bolt just sends a message that local athletes are not good
enough. This despite Van Niekerk being the first ever athlete to break 10 seconds for the
100m, 20 seconds for the 200m, 31 seconds for the 300m and 44 seconds for the 400m. Van
Niekerk is now being hailed as the next Bolt effectively making Bolt a yesterday man, in
our eyes.

So when your tenure ends for it will end, rest assured - yours will be the legacy of a black
South African who reversed the gains of transformation. For you presided over the company
at a time when transformation was the only topic on everyones lips.

Mnumzane, as black people, each time one of our own gets appointed to a position of
power, we are filled with a sense of renewed hope. Our hope, if you do not perceive it to be
misplaced (I hope not), stems from the fact that many of our people, yes the middle-class,
(not only the masses) remain professionally and economically oppressed. We somehow
believe that the same transformation agenda that catapults you to a big position is the same
agenda that will cause you to carry more than just a business interest, but remind you of the
transformation obligation you carry, as a black South African in 2017. Perhaps you may also
have quipped in your social and business circles, that the struggle has ceased to be about
political liberation. That was a precursor. The main event is now! And economic
emancipation for black people needs to move to implementation phase. For we are up
against a well-entrenched system that was deliberately designed to exclude the masses, as
you know, and now that you are up there, Joni, please do not sell-out. Do not perpetuate
black exclusion.

Now is there a case for efficiency vs. transformation?

I hope that does not even arise as a matter because efficiency in an untransformed
economy equates to gross inefficiency. It is no different to saying the colonial apartheid
government was a lot more efficient and built great infrastructure while we forget that, the
same government only had to cater for 20% or less of the population.
So sir, frankly, I am disappointed that Telkom did not appoint a South African agency. I am
appalled that monopolistic behavior in this country continues to be perpetuated through
public entities like Telkom.

I long to see the day when South Africans will realise that the economic struggle cannot only
be fought in government and political offices, but also taken up by those dabbling in the
private sector, the hub of economic activity, because that is where the real fight is.

Profits are not profits when they are representing a minute portion of the population.

I hope we can open this discussion further.

Yours sincerely
Tshwane Malope
South African Citizen (and Telkom shareholder through my governments 40% stake).

Tshwane Malope is a professional and member of the ANC Professionals and

Academic task team. He writes in his personal capacity.

To join, go to our facebook page: ANC Professionals and Academic Volunteers.