Telkom missed its own headline financial targets in its 2026 financial year – on revenue, profit and free cash flow – yet most of its top executives took home short-term bonuses that exceeded their on-target amounts, the group’s newly published remuneration report shows.
The group performance scorecard, which determines the bulk of executive bonuses, came in at 73.2% for the year to 31 March 2026 – a year in which Telkom reported sharply higher headline earnings, flattered by cost discipline and prior-year one-offs, but underwhelming top-line growth.
Group revenue of R44.5-billion fell short not only of the R46.9-billion target but even of the R46.3-billion minimum threshold set for the measure. Profit after tax before bonuses of R4.1-billion missed the R4.5-billion target, and free cash flow of R3.1-billion came in just under target.
What rescued the scorecard was everything other than the financials. Strategic project execution scored a maximum 150% after approved initiatives were completed six months ahead of deadline. The ESG component sailed past its stretch targets: carbon emissions fell 27% against a target of 4.2-4.99%, helped by Telkom’s energy programme, while women in leadership reached 37.3%, above the 37% stretch target. Openserve connected 122 910 fibre premises against a 100 000 target.
Yet the financial measures carry 65% of the scorecard’s weight – and it is here that the disconnect between performance and payouts is apparent.
Group CEO Serame Taukobong was paid a R10-million bonus, marginally below his on-target amount of R10.5-million and identical to the R10-million he received a year earlier. He was the only executive paid a bonus below his on-target amount.
Biggest beneficiaries
Chief financial officer Nonkululeko Dlamini received R6.4-million against an on-target R5.8-million – 109% of target. Group chief digital officer Sello Mmakau, chief of corporate affairs Mpho McNamee and human resources chief Melody Lekota all received between 109% and 117% of their on-target bonuses.
In aggregate, short-term bonuses paid to the executive team rose 18% year on year, from R34.9-million to R41.1-million.
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The biggest beneficiaries ran the business units that performed. Telkom Consumer CEO Lunga Siyo received a R6.6-million bonus – 130% of his on-target amount – on the back of his division’s 90% unit score and market-leading mobile growth. On top of that came a R6.3-million retention payment made in July 2025 under a new retention scheme the board approved to address “talent retention risk”, taking Siyo’s total earnings for the year to R20.9-million – within striking distance of Taukobong’s R24-million.
Beauty Apleni, appointed CEO of Openserve effective July 2025, received R5.6-million – 157% of her on-target bonus – after her division scored 124% on its scorecard, delivering its first revenue growth in nine years.
The remuneration committee, chaired by Brian Kennedy, states that it “duly and carefully considered” whether to exercise discretion and “determined that no discretion was required”. Notably, the only discretion available to the committee under Telkom’s policy is downward – it may cut bonus outcomes by up to 15% in exceptional circumstances.
What the report does not disclose is the arithmetic by which a 73.2% group scorecard – weighted at 80% for most head-office executives – translates into payouts well above on-target levels. The remaining 20% rests on individual performance, and every executive who received a bonus was given an individual rating of “2” on the group’s five-point scale, which runs from “exceptional” at the top to “unsatisfactory” at the bottom.
The report is not a one-way story of reward without delivery. Jonas Bogoshi, the long-serving CEO of BCX, received no bonus at all. His division scored just 37% on its unit scorecard – revenue in BCX’s eight priority client accounts shrank 4% against a target of 8% growth – and he exited the group at the end of February 2026 with a R2.8-million severance package, a R230 173 leave payment and R11.2-million in pro-rated vested shares, for total final-year earnings of R19.9-million.
The long-term incentive scheme, meanwhile, hit hard. The 2022 share awards failed their performance conditions entirely: an achievement of 82.9% against the total shareholder return, headline earnings and return-on-capital conditions translated into a 0% vesting. Across the 2021 and 2022 schemes, 7.1 million of 8.8 million shares – 81% – were forfeited. Taukobong’s vested share value collapsed from R13.4-million in the 2025 financial year to R3.5-million, the main reason his total earnings fell from R33.3-million to R24-million. Total earnings for the executive team as a whole declined year on year, from R122.3-million to R116.1-million.
Bonus pool
The wider workforce shares in a R797-million bonus pool – set at 14.1% of pre-bonus profit and distributed to all eligible employees – while bargaining-unit staff received a 5.5% wage increase under the final year of a three-year agreement.
Shareholders have shown little appetite to push back. At the August 2025 AGM, Telkom’s remuneration policy received 97.87% approval and its implementation report 98.27% – support the committee describes as encouraging. Whether that endures may be tested at this year’s AGM. — © 2026 NewsCentral Media
