Sipho Maseko is deeply admired by the South African business community, the calm and strategic chief executive of Telkom is soon set to depart the partly state-owned telecoms giant, but he leaves it on good footing having turned around a company that was once destined for the trash heap.
But surely for a CEO as accomplished as Maseko, there must be a game plan in his mind for what his next move will be. Maseko is still young enough that he couldn’t possibly be considering retirement already and there are some interesting projects across the SA company landscape that need a chief executive to steady the helm.
One such project would be to take over as the new permanent CEO of Absa, writes Gugu Lourie (for subscribers).
Lourie argues that Maseko could help Absa navigate the competitive banking sector and reimagine and realign the banks’ strategic objectives just as he did during his tenure at the reins of Telkom.
Incoming board chairperson Sello Moloko is another handy person to have in place to lure Maseko to the bank. Moloko still sits on the board at Telkom and would be a key ally in a Moloko-Maseko run Absa bank, argues Lourie.
It’s one worth keeping an eye on this year with Moloko taking over as chair from the long-serving Wendy Lucas-Bull on April 1, while Maseko leaves Telkom at the end of June.
While the rest of us have had to tighten the purse strings and find a way to make ends meet amid salary cuts, job losses and rising costs of living during the pandemic, the super-wealthy have been splurging on the finest luxury goods that money can buy.
On Wednesday, Burberry and the Rupert family-owned Richemont released its third-quarter sales results, and the figures give us mere mortals quite an insight into what the rich and powerful decide to spend their money on, writes Giulietta Talevi.
The numbers from Richemont indicate that after a stock market rally and Covid travel restrictions, cash was handed out like confetti on high-end fashion, handbags, jewellery, perfumes and the finest watches.
It must be nice to spend all that money on opulent items while back on the local front, we’re dealing with rising costs all around us as we brace for a petrol price hike likely to hit next month and a possible rate hike from the SA Reserve Bank.
Here’s a roundup of interesting opinions, analyses, and editorials:
Pieter du Toit | Intimidation of Zondo witnesses shows state capture monster still roams – News24 (for subscribers)
JUSTICE MALALA: Connect the dots? What dots? – Financial Mail
ROB ROSE: Behind Tongaat’s stormy vote – Financial Mail (for subscribers)
The ANC’s race to the bottom as its leadership abandons all semblance of revolutionary ethics – Daily Maverick
JONATHAN JANSEN | Don’t be fooled, this is why AfriForum wants the matric results printed – Sunday Times Daily (for subscribers)
Mbhazima Shilowa | Dear Lindiwe, it is the courts, not govt, that stand up for the people – News24 (for subscribers)
OPINION | Are my investments supporting fossil fuel companies? – Fin24
Race for ANC presidency set to be bruising – The Citizen (for subscribers)
