There are still very few black executive directors — 64 to be precise — of companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE), said BusinessMap Foundation, an economic transformation research organisation.
”White people, most of them male, account for 98% of executive director positions at companies on the JSE,” the foundation said in its 2003 empowerment report.
”White males still run the economy, almost a decade after the ANC (African National Congress) came to power with a pledge to fundamentally transform the apartheid economy.”
Black people run the public sector and parastatals while white people run the private sector — the engine room of South Africa’s economy, the report said.
It said the 64 black executive directors were all employed by black-controlled companies. Of the 64, three were women.
”In the new South Africa, it appears that only black-controlled companies have the confidence to employ black directors.
”But black directors rarely seem to appoint black women to executive director positions,” the report added.
The number of empowerment deals rose from 62 in 2001 to 82 in 2002, with their value totalling R8,2-billion, more than double the R3,83-billion figure reported in 2001.
BusinessMap’s report said the telecommunications sector reported the highest number of deals due to the buyout of Transnet’s 18,7% interest in MTN.
The mining sector followed with R1,095-billion worth of empowerment deals, the report said.
With empowerment companies leaving the JSE, real black ownership was becoming a mirage, the report continued, with the number of black companies on the JSE dropped from 26 to 21, but black presence on the JSE rising to 3% in value terms.
”As in 2001, the number of firms with black influence sufficient to be included on the BusinessMap Empowerment Index still hovers below 30.
”However, the Index rose by about 6% and by 36% relative to the All-Share Index, which fell 22 % during the period,” the report said.
BusinessMap Foundation (formerly BusinessMap SA) is an advisory body whose major focus is the change in the racial profile of the economy.
The non-profit organisation produces information, backed up by extensive research, on political and investment issues in South Africa and the southern African region. – Sapa