MTN poaches Telkom's chief financial officer

Tsholofelo Molefe replaces Ralph Mupita as group CFO and will support the execution of its growth and deleveraging strategy.

MTN has poached Telkom group chief financial officer (CFO) Tsholofelo Molefe to fill the same role at the mobile network operator after Ralph Mupita was promoted to CEO. Telkom announced on Friday that she had resigned with immediate effect.

MTN said Molefe would take up the post as soon as practically possible next year, but no later than the beginning of October. Prior to joining Telkom four years ago, Molefe was finance director at Eskom as well as the CFO for First National Bank’s Personal Banking division. A qualified chartered accountant, she is also a non-executive director of private schools group Curro.

Sugentharan Perusal has been acting CFO since 1 September.

MTN said Molefe’s appointment would support the execution of its strategy to accelerate growth, deleverage the holding company debt and unlock value. It said it would present more detail on the strategy with the release of its full-year results in March.

We are thrilled to have an executive of Tsholofelo’s stature join us,” the company said. “The board is confident that she has the experience required for the position. She will play a critical role in the growth of the business and unlocking of shareholder value.”
Telikom said Dirk Reyneke, current CFO of its Openserve business, would take over as acting group CFO from today. Reyneke, formerly CFO of Telkom Mobile and Gyro, had been working with Molefe for the past two years and would continue with the group’s financial strategic objectives. It said it would appoint a permanent CFO at the end of a comprehensive process.

In (Molefe’s) two-year tenure, she derisked the balance sheet, optimised working capital management through structural changes and enhanced the capital allocation framework to focus on return on investment,” Telkom said.

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