Telkom CEO Maseko to Cut Workforce by 30% to Revive Revenues

Telkom SA SOC Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Sipho Maseko may fire as many as 1,000 managers and says he needs to cut the approximately 21,000-strong workforce by almost a third over five years as he seeks to turn around Africa’s biggest fixed-line phone company.

The decision follows a contract with Boston-based Bain & Co. agreed about a week after he started at Telkom, which is 40 percent owned by the South African government and 11 percent held by the Public Investment Corp., the company that manages state pensions. Telkom shares rose as much as 6.3 percent and were up 5.9 percent at 32.20 rand at the close of trading in Johannesburg.