SA's BEE movers and shakers
26 May 2004
According to Johannesburg-based empowerment rating and research agency EmpowerDEX, the traditionally pale male boardrooms of JSE-listed companies are slowly beginning to change their tone.
In its 2003 report on BEE at the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE), the agency found that blacks made up 14.7% of directors of listed companies. Compare this to 1992, when a mere 1.2% of the top 100 JSE-listed companies had black directors.
According to EmpowerDEX, black directors held 62 executive and 305 non-executive positions on the JSE in 2002.
The agency pointed out, however, that the ratio of non-executive to executive positions still put much of the decision-making power in corporate South Africa out of the hands of black businessmen.
Most influential BEE directors
The report, "Pioneers, Powers and Pundits", lists the 25 most influential BEE directors on the JSE, based on the market capitalisation of the
companies on whose boards they serve.
Cyril Ramaphosa - considered one of the richest men in SA - leads the list with market influence of R137-billion.
Ramaphosa, according to the report, can participate in the economic decisions of market heavyweights SABMiller and Firstrand, empowerment stalwarts Johnnic Holdings and MTN Group, service company Rebserve and textile manufacturer Seardel. He also has interests in unlisted entities such as Millennium Consolidated Investment, and is on the board of Alexander Forbes.
Former Gauteng Premier Tokyo Sexwale, with positions in Goldfields, Absa, Northam, Mvela and Trans Hex, ranks second as the most influential BEE director on the JSE.
Sexwale is followed by two Sasol directors, Sam
Motsi and Zavareh Rustomjee, with Angloplat human resources director Ben Ngubane completing the top five.
Other well-known personalities ranking high on the list include Saki Macozoma (6th), Phuthuma Nhleko (7th), Reuel Khoza (8th) and Eric Molobi (11th).
Surprising exclusions from the top 25 include Mashudu Ramano (35th), Dawn Marole of Kumba (37th), Sindi Zilwa (40th), Don Ncube (45th) and Patrice Motsepe (58th).
The report attributes these exclusions to "either the result of the focus shown by some of these directors, as in the case of Dawn Marole in Kumba and Patrice Motsepe in ARMGold, or to the decline in the market capitalisation of the companies on which they sit"..
Most influential BEE women on the JSE
According to EmpowerDEX, there were four women in the top 25 most influential BEE directors on the JSE in 2002 – considered a success given the workplace discrimination women face. The four were Hixonia Nyasulu
(13th), Irene Charnley (16th), Brigalia Bam (20th) and Dawn Mokhobo (22nd).
The most influential black woman on the JSE, Hixonia Nyasulu, leap-frogged her compatriots in late 2002 after joining the board of Nedcor and AECI.
In second position, Irene Charnley of Johnnic and MTN Group - ranked by Fortune Magazine as one of the top 50 businesswomen outside the US in 2002 - remains one of the most influential black women in the country.
Other influential black women on the JSE include Audrey Mokhobo (29th), who sits on the board of Harmony Gold, BJM and Capital Alliance, Kumba chair Dawn Marole (35th), and Sindi Zilwa (40th), executive partner at professional services firm Nkonki Inc.
Most powerful BEE directors on the JSE
Out of the 17 heads of companies, the five most powerful BEE directors managed
companies with market capitalisation of more than R1-billion.
The report puts them as Phuthuma Nhleko (MTN Group), Jacob
Modise (Johnnic), Patrice Motsepe (ARMGold), Wells Ntuli (Palamin), and Don Ncube (Real Africa). Another well-known personality who makes the EmpowerDEX list is Gary Morolo in 7th position.
Louise Mojela is the only BEE female director who heads the management and operation of a JSE-listed company, Wiphold, and is ranked 8th overall in the most powerful BEE directors list.
Most active BEE directors
The report also lists the most active directors, based on number of directorships held. According to the report, almost 80% of BEE directors held only one directorship, with just over 10% of BEE directors holding more than four.
Cyril Ramaphosa and Eric Molobi topped the list with six directorships each. There were five BEE directors who held five directorships, and seven who held four directorships.
The most active black women, according to the report, were Hixonia Nyasulu and Danisa Baloyi, who sit on five boards each, and Sindi
Zilwa with four director positions.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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