Telkom has reached a historic leadership milestone with the appointment of Beauty Apleni as CEO of Openserve, finalising Group CEO Serame Taukobong’s eight-member executive team with ‘equal gender representation’.
The move brings to four the number of women in Telkom’s eight-member executive committee, achieving full parity in the telecommunications company’s top leadership.
This appointment completes Telkom’s leadership team, providing gender diversity at the highest levels of the organisation.
The executive team now comprises four women and four men driving the OneTelkom strategy, exceeding the company’s 2025 target of 35% female representation in leadership positions (up from 34.1% in 2024).
Apleni joins an accomplished leadership team with some sort of clearly ‘defined roles’ the company’s results presentation::
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Taukobong – “Demanding execution excellence across the business”
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Nonkululeko Dlamini (Group Chief Financial Officer) – “Driveing financial discipline to unlock growth”
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Apleni – “Expanding South Africa’s digital infrastructure backbone”
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Jonas Bogoshi (BCX CEO) – “Transforms BCX into an IT business powerhouse”
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Melody Lekota (Chief HR Officer) – “enableing OneTelkom ways of working”
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Lunga Siyo (Telkom Consumer CEO) – “Supercharging the growth of mobile business”
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Sello Mmakau (Chief Digital Officer) – “Leading Telkom’s digital transformation”
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Mpho McNamee (Chief of Corporate Affairs) – “Advancing trust through reputation leadership”
The newly completed team announced impressive FY2025 results, demonstrating the success of the OneTelkom approach. The group reported 555.2% growth in free cash flow to R2.8 billion and reinstated dividends with a R1.3 billion payout to shareholders.
“Today, our 2025 full-year results demonstrate that the competent execution of our data-led strategy is meeting and, in some cases, exceeding expectations,” Taukobong said.
The results showed particular strength in core connectivity offerings, with double-digit growth in both mobile (24.1%) and fixed (26.4%) data traffic.
Apleni’s appointment to lead Openserve comes as the infrastructure division plays a crucial role in Telkom’s three-year strategic objectives, which include:
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Achieving EBITDA margins between 25-27%
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Delivering mid-single digit revenue growth
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Maintaining capital expenditure at 12-15% of revenue
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Preserving a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.5x-1.5x
Telkom’s achievement of 50% female representation at executive level forms part of broader talent management initiatives. The company’s leadership believes its gender-balanced, capability-driven executive team positions Telkom well to execute its vision as the backbone of South Africa’s digital future.
As Apleni assumes her new role, she inherits a division that contributed significantly to the group’s performance, with fibre-related data revenue growing 5.9% and maintaining a market-leading 50.4% FTTH connectivity rate.
Her leadership will be crucial in expanding South Africa’s digital infrastructure while maintaining Openserve’s 32.4% EBITDA margin.
The completed leadership team now turns its focus to delivering on Telkom’s medium-term objectives.
The achievement of gender parity at executive level creates a leadership structure designed to drive Telkom’s next phase of growth through diverse perspectives and specialized capabilities.
