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This year has been one of mixed fortunes for black business.
Pockets of excellence, rather than organisations, proved to be the shining lights across South Africa’s bruised economic landscape.
Some of the brightest stars around were black faces and the biggest sinners, based on rand value, were multinational corporations.
The apex organisation of black business, the Black Business Council (BBC), finally rid itself of controversy and elected a fresh set of leaders.
The new leadership, led by Zungu Investments Company founder Sandile Zungu, was put in place following a controversial nomination process that saw Zungu pull out and return to the presidential race days before elections.
Among BBC affiliates, the Black Management Forum got itself a new president in Andile Nomlala, and so did the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc) in Sabelo Macingwane.
Both organisations also elected new leaders under a cloud of controversy – Nomlala was elected after a leaked report allegedly showed he presided over exaggerated membership figures in the Western Cape, while Macingwane’s election faced a potential court interdict by a separate faction of the organisation.
Both BBC and Nafcoc are still pursuing separate seats at the National Economic Development and Labour Council, but it’s unlikely that the two organisations will get their wish any time soon.
On the downside, the demise of VBS Mutual Bank dominated the headlines for all the wrong reasons and unfortunately the R2 billion “heist” became a political tool of sorts, unlike Steinhoff’s R200 billion “glitch”.
The VBS loot found its way into almost all political coffers and it seems unlikely that that storm will blow over soon.
Top black executives made some big moves this year; below is a list of some of them:
. KPMG, the privileged sinner of corporate South Africa, removed its CEO, Nhlamu Dlomu, who definitely had the worst job in the country when appointed late last year, after steering the company through its biggest scandal in this country.
The company has appointed Ignatius Sehoole as its new CEO and he will take up his role on May 1 next year.
. Former Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile finally took up the job as CEO of Standard Bank SA early this year, while Tshokolo Nchocho was appointed CEO of the Independent Development Corporation;
. Eskom got itself a brand-new board, including Phakamani Hadebe as its new CEO;
. Fani Titi was appointed joint CEO at Investec;
. Dion Shango was appointed the new CEO at PwC Africa and will take up the position from July next year;
. Deshnee Naidoo was appointed CEO of Vedanta Resources’ Africa Base Metals, which has zinc and copper assets in South Africa, Zambia and Namibia; and
. Former Miss South Africa Peggy-Sue Khumalo moved from Investec to Standard Bank, which appointed her as CEO of its local wealth division.
