Net1 CEO steps down
SERGE BELAMANT: GORDHAN CALLED HIM ‘EXTREMELY ARROGANT’
Ray Mahlaka
Net1 UEPS says its founder and CEO Serge Belamant will retire at the end of May, ending a nearly 17-year tenure at the helm of the company that saw it grow to become the distributor of social grants via its subsidiary, Cash Paymaster Services (CPS). Net1, which has a primary listing in the US, announced yesterday that Belamant will be succeeded on June 1 by CFO Herman Kotze, who has been with the company for 18 years. Kotze will serve as both CEO and CFO until a new CFO appointment is made.
Early retirement
Belamant was due to retire in 2018 but Net1 said to facilitate changes to its management structures and accommodate the views expressed by shareholders, he agreed on an earlier retirement date.
He will remain with the company for two years to provide consulting services and offer technical expertise for Net1’s international operations.
Belamant is widely credited for building Net1 to become one of the biggest payment systems and mobile technologies company over the past 27 years.
In April, he relinquished his dual role as chairman and CEO, paving the way for the appointment of Christopher Seabrooke as chairman. Seabrooke has been on the Net1 board since 2005. At the time, the company said splitting the role of the chairman and CEO would bolster corporate governance.
Belamant’s retirement comes in the wake of widespread criticism of Net1’s role in the handling of social grant payments to 10.6 million beneficiaries by the South African Social Service Agency (Sassa).
He came under fire after the continuation of a contract, concluded five years ago, to distribute social grants between CPS and Sassa despite it being declared invalid by the Constitutional Court as the tender process was flawed.
CPS’s contract expired on March 31 but the court extended it for a year after action by civil rights organisation The Black Sash. Sassa has less than a year to tender out a new contract.
The Net1 board gagged Belamant for his controversial comments regarding CPS being the only service provider that can manage grant payments. He suggested the state could send “pigeons to fly around” to deliver social grant payments.
'Extremely arrogant'
Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan described Belamant as “extremely arrogant and disrespectful to government” during a parliamentary hearing in March and asked shareholders to engage with him.
After Gordhan’s plea, Allan Gray, which owns a 15.6% stake in Net1, said it was working on an investigation to understand the integrity of management and Net1’s business model. Allan Gray also called for board changes at the company.