Lesley Stones
3 June 2005
Johannesburg — CONFUSION surrounds the status of networking company Cisco and its GM for sub-Saharan Africa, Mokati Ramphele, who denies reports he has resigned.
Industry sources say Ramphele has been pushed out just under a year after his appointment, which was hailed as a coup, giving Cisco its first black African to head its African operations.
"There is no resignation letter," Ramphele said yesterday. "There are issues that we are discussing but the relationship is not terminated.
"There are discussions going on between me and the office of (Cisco CEO) John Chambers. There is a proposal, and if it doesn't work out, there will be a settlement."
His denial is a direct contradiction of a statement by Steve Midgley, Cisco's director for the Middle East and Africa, who said: "Mokati Ramphele resigned from our company. We have in our possession a letter signed by him to that effect."
Last week, Cisco's vice-president of human resources for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Angus Reynolds, was in SA to discuss conflicts in the subsidiary. "We never comment on personal matters, but I can confirm that Mokati has left the company," Reynolds said.
The conflicting statements are not confined to Ramphele's employment status.
Conflicting figures have also been presented to Telkom regarding Cisco's black empowerment profile, prompting accusations that it is inflating its image in a bid to retain business with the parastatal.
Figures initially showed that two of its three top managers in SA were black. But that included Barron Cox, an African-American appointed as the human resources director. When Telkom's guidelines of only counting native South Africans were followed, only Ramphele enhanced its empowerment profile.
An employee at another of Cisco's largest customers said both his company and Telkom had asked for its empowerment credentials, and the submissions were inaccurate, as black staff on short term contracts were counted in the quota.
"They counted non-South African blacks and temps as permanent employees," the source said.
Telkom wrote to Cisco querying the report, and Ramphele said he stepped in to meet Telkom officials to restate Cisco's equity profile.
The main source of conflict threantening to end Ramphele's tenure does not appear to be any rancour with the local staff, but a clash with his immediate boss, Mark de Simone, vice-president of the Middle East and Africa region.
One spat centred on a plan by De Simone to lift the sub-Saharan operations out of SA's jurisdiction, undermining Ramphele's role as GM for the entire territory.
During his 10 months in office, Ramphele claims to have grown Cisco's revenue substantially. Revenue for both the first and second quarters was up 24% from the previous financial year, and its third quarter revenue rose 39%, he said.
"We have already achieved 104% of our year-end target halfway through the fourth quarter."
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