Chairmen should foster robust questioning, former Nedbank head urges peers Reuel Khoza, Nedbank's former chairman, has challenged South African executives to stop acting like a "thermometer that records the temperature of prevailing conditions" in the country's political economy.The controversial businessman said this week that board chairmen should rather be "thermostats that transform and regulate the temperature of our nation".Khoza, who had the ANC government fuming in 2012 following his scathing remarks on its leadership, said: "This hour in South African history calls for active, conscientious nonconformists."story_article_left1Khoza had been expected to apologise after calling the political leaders a "strange breed" whose moral quotient was "degenerating", but he never did.Speaking at the Directors Event, held in association with MMI Holdings and the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Awards, in Sandton this week, Khoza told a roomful of executives that there were always two parties: the party of the past and that of the future."Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved," said the author of Attuned Leadership and Let Africa Lead ."Every corporation, driven largely by the board, is in the process of transforming - of being an anachronism irrelevant to the future or becoming the harbinger of the future," Khoza said.He reminded corporate leaders that companies did not operate in a vacuum but in a political economy that invariably had a bearing on the functionality of companies.In 2007, the ANC allegedly forced First National Bank to drop its bold anti-crime campaign - estimated to have cost R10-million - which was aimed at then president Thabo Mbeki. At the time Paul Harris, a FirstRand co-founder and former CEO, spearheaded the campaign to print 1.5million large posters, each bearing a letter to Mbeki, begging him to do something about violent crime.Recalling the incident this week, Khoza said Harris should not have allowed the ANC to bully the bank.In 2013, the ANC again lashed out at FNB after it launched a campaign giving citizens a platform to voice their concerns and hopes for South Africa. The ruling party deemed this a political statement and an attack on the government, a spokesman said.story_article_right2Khoza said business people should not be afraid."The corporation, perforce, plays a role as a concerned, conscientious and responsible corporate citizen. The chairman is, or should be, the corporate flag bearer."But he said the notion of the chairman as a "safe pair of hands" no longer held true.Chairmen were increasingly becoming an authority responsible for the direction and performance of the company, even though the execution control and implementation lay with CEOs, he said."Good chairmen are required to establish a productive board atmosphere, but the stakes are rising.Socioeconomic turbulence and growing scrutiny by . consumers, government and regulators continually shine a spotlight on . boards, and some are found wanting."The challenge for chairmen was to create a boardroom culture that was inclusive and robustly questioning, he said.Non-executive directors, too, must be well versed on prevailing corporate issues and prepared to delve even deeper into the workings of the corporation. "Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit," Khoza said...