Pule Mabe, the ANC’s cranky spokesperson, doesn’t know Kenneth Creamer. The Wits academic has been part of the ANC’s economic transformation discussions for more than three decades. Go figure!
I shouldn’t use Mabe as an example of ANC delegates’ interest in economic issues; he had a busy weekend ushering chairs of commissions to the media centre to brief the large contingent of journalists gathered there, and it was bitterly cold in Nasrec.
In fact the economic transformation commission was packed; three presidents (Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Cyril Ramaphosa) were in attendance.
But do ANC delegates actually discuss economic transformation or use this critical platform to continue factional brinkmanship? How does another call for the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank — after hopelessly failing to implement this standing resolution for five years — help advance transformation of the economy?
Gwede Mantashe, ANC national chairperson, told the Sunday Times the governing party needs to move on because the high costs of buying out the central bank’s private shareholders makes this resolution un-implementable.
The big players are actively reversing transformation at the top, and the only people making a noise about this phenomenon are smaller forums representing black accountants and actuaries. No one hears them.
His comrades are fighting the wrong bank here! The group they should be aiming at is the big four banks and the broader financial services sector. The big players are actively reversing transformation at the top, and the only people making a noise about this phenomenon are smaller forums representing black accountants and actuaries. No-one hears them.
The Absa board kicked Daniel Mminele out after just 15 months because it didn’t agree with his strategic direction. This was the board that took him from the Reserve Bank as the perfect replacement for Maria Ramos, only to embarrass and blemish his record by booting him out unceremoniously and replacing him with a white man.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not questioning the credentials of Arrie Rautenbach, Mr Absa himself. From where I sit the Absa board seems to have been keen on Rautenbach from the word go. Was there a need to undertake the painful Mminele exercise just to tick the “we’ve appointed our first black group CEO” box?
“Differences on strategy” seems to be the catchphrase for corporates in this sector when they are tired of black CEOs and want to revert to the status quo. Isn’t that why Thabo Dloti was fired at Liberty Life? He was swiftly replaced by David Munro, who served for five years before retiring quietly in March.
Funny enough, the Standard Bank Group — Liberty’s parent company — is the only one of the big four led by a black man in Sim Tshabalala. But don’t forget he was first made “joint CEO” with Ben Kruger before they ended that dual leadership role and gave him the sole mandate.
Peter Moyo at Old Mutual is a different story. His conduct was unethical and the company was right to show him the door. That he’s lost every court case challenging his dismissal reaffirms the correctness of that decision. Ian Williamson was installed as his successor and we all moved on. Did anyone in ANC circles bother to call their old comrade Trevor Manuel, chairperson of the Old Mutual, to enquire if the board couldn’t at least find a female replacement if black males were too risky?
I’m not saying white men shouldn’t be considered for top executive placements. I shut down those in my circles who question why a white Andre de Ruyter is leading Eskom. Judge him on his performance, not his skin colour, I protest.
However, when survey after survey shows management control in the private sector is still skewed towards white men, how do boards sit and justify a continuation of this state of affairs?
Let me quote from a survey compiled by a financial services company, Sanlam.
The Sanlam Gauge report 2022 — which measures transformation in SA, accounting for all elements including ownership, management control and skills development — found that management control scores were the lowest across all sectors; but particularly lower in the financial sector “with companies generally meeting targets at junior management level but falling short in higher management levels”.
The Commission for Employment Equity reported that white males still accounted for 63.2% of top management, down from 64.7% a year earlier. Africans occupied just 17% at this level, Indians 10.9%, and coloureds made up just 5.9% of the top management band. Women lag hopelessly behind men when it comes to leading listed companies.
Enquire on this and all these listed companies will show you colourful PowerPoint presentations of their transformation plans at management levels, but the fact is they haven’t done enough where it matters.
These are the issues I expected an ANC national policy conference to discuss, not the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank when those 800 shareholders have little influence on the bank’s operations or monetary policy. You buy them out and then what? You thump your chests and declare this non-event an economic transformation victory?
But the financial service industry and broader business have every right not to take the ANC seriously and just laugh it off. If you put ANC members in a pub with kegs full of cold beer, they’ll either steal it or form a task team that will take another five years deciding how to drink the malt.
While the ANC dithers and barks up the wrong tree, corporates are carrying on happily reversing transformation and reverting to business as usual.
