He’s clinched a diamond deal and there are many other business opportunities awaiting outgoing Gauteng premier Tokyo Sexwale, writes Charlene Smith
Tokyo Sexwale leaves the management of the golden province in January for the diamond mining industry. He has clinched a partnership with De Beers and lined up lucrative concessions in southern and central Africa.
On January 20, his first day out of office as Gauteng premier, Sexwale will take control of two yet unidentified South African diamond mines wrested from De Beers, who will retain a 10% shareholding. Sexwale’s vehicle will be Mvelaphanda (Venda for “progress”) Mining. The company was formed after about a year’s negotiations with top Anglo American and De Beers officials.
It is understood Sexwale is also close to securing diamond and other mining concessions in six southern and central African nations including Angola, Botswana, both Congos and the Central African Republic, but that these can only be concluded once he leaves office.
Sexwale says a price cannot be put on Mvelaphanda at this stage. “I want to build from the start; I do not want to join.” It is believed he will finance the acquisitions with family money and the issue of preferential shares.
It is also known that corporations in places as diverse as Russia, Belgium, Finland, the US and Britain have made Sexwale offers in telecommunications, aviation and vehicle manufacture. He has had talks with Bill Venter’s Altron and Group Five about senior executive positions in both.
Mzi Khumalo of Capital Alliance and JCI is known to be a close friend dating back from the imprisonment of both on Robben Island, and it is believed that non-executive positions have been discussed between the two.
A project that is definitely on the cards is one discussed with the parents of his wife, Judy, who are involved in the clothing industry in Cape Town. Serious attention is being given to a clothing line called “Tokyo”, which follows on Dali Tambo’s successful clothing line which is retailed through Edgars.
Sexwale says tough negotiations preceded his decision to go into business. “The first person I had to canvass the situation with was the president early this year. I remember thinking after I had dropped the idea before him, he seemed like an inter- continental ballistic missile. Mandela has a twitch of the mouth that reflects profound, yet respectful, displeasure.
“The second time I went to speak with him I took my wife, Judy. He is fond of her, and I hoped he would not upbraid me in front of her. I told him I thought it was important some of us served the nation from the business sector. In the Freedom Charter of 1955 we said we would nationalise the mines and other assets. That has not happened, the mountain has not come to us, so I believe we should go to the mountain.
“I then went to sit with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and that discussion took the better part of a morning. His biggest concern was Gauteng, but I had to assure him we would put all efforts behind what must be a smooth transition.
“We realised some would think my decision was because of perceived tension between us and that we would have to manage those perceptions. We decided it was important to convey the fact that although I have taken the decision to serve people outside of government, it does not diminish the importance of government.”
Sexwale says that while liberation politics were a calling, government politics will progress more and more toward becoming a career option.
And he has hard words for business. “The corporate sector has by and large not transformed in line with the dictates of political emancipation. It will pose a grave danger to the future of this country if the people turn to ex-freedom fighters now in government and say, `We cannot eat democracy.’ “
“A lot of people, mainly of white families, have accumulated in this country unparalleled wealth by world standards, but many do not want to let go even marginally… Some, with regard to black economic empowerment, are so tightfisted you literally have to prise out of their hands a piece of rubble.”
He also slams aspects of black economic empowerment: “The vulgarisation of the whole move for economic democracy has been white capital giving black business shares and a few abandoned assets. That is the vulgarisation of a whole national effort. Some white business establishments think they are doing black people a favour. And government, on the other hand, is so scared of words like nepotism and favouritism that it fears having privatisation clauses that favour black business – it should favour black corporates.”
Speaking of the woes of Khumalo of JCI, he says: “It is convenient, and shows the lingering racial thinking of the past, for some persons to take a sideswipe at what they see as the performance of black economic empowerment whenever such businesses experience difficulties.
“Invariably they would like to blame the black executives of those companies, but over 300 years we have never heard talk of the failure of white companies as an aspect of pigmentation. The collapse of Japanese financial institutions was not seen as a representation of the ineptness of Japanese management, and yet in South Africa businesspeople are quick to point fingers at blackness.
“If you take the situation pertaining to Mzi Khumalo, it is my perception that some people within the industry wanted a nice black chairman. It is my belief that Mzi wanted a good black-controlled company.”
Sexwale’s bid to do business in Africa has made him sensitive to African attitudes toward what many African nations see as South African arrogance. He says: “We have to be less arrogant toward Africa, we need to consult them more and take heed of what they say. We need to remember that Africa lost us the Olympic bid by voting against us.”