The recent appointment of Lazarus Zim as CEO of Anglo American South Africa and the subsequent reshuffling of reporting lines have rightly raised questions about his overall influence and responsibility. It also makes one wonder if white executives now see the globe as their new playground.
Subsequent to the appointment, Anglo announced that its executive committee will now be called an executive board and appointed Zim and technical director Tony Redman to it. At the same time, Anglo proposes the appointment of David Hathorn and Simon Thompson to the main board as executive directors. This has led to people questioning why Zim was not offered a seat on the board.
But that may have been asking too much of a local boy. Hathorn and Thompson bring operational experience as respective heads of paper and packaging and base metals. Zim readily concedes that he is till learning. In his new position he will still help implement strategy as determined by the executive board
Zim’s level of influence was also questioned by minerals and energy director general Sandile Nogxina at the recent mining Indaba where he openly stated that Zim was in charge of “soft issues” such as transformation and not operations. That attack, tactless and lacking in emotional intelligence as it might be, raises pertinent questions.
Zim chairs the transformation committee, which comprises heavyweights such as the CEOs of all locally based divisions, chief operating officer Godfrey Gonwe and Douglas Ramapahosa. Now imagine Bobby Godsell worrying about the price of gold, or planning, as he did in the past financial year, to restructure the hedge book and raise the revolving credit facility to $700-million. From there he will be hauled to Main Street to a transformation committee meeting and have to explain whether the company that supplies plants to his headquarters has any disabled employees or female owners.
The globalised structure of Anglo means that Godsell reports to Tony Trahar in London on operational matters and operates outside the framework of the transformation imperative.
Are we likely then, in the years ahead, to see white executives simply circumvent competition posed by black counterparts by playing more in the global market? Or will we see companies, in search of growth on the continent and elsewhere, move listings or change reporting lines in a way that ensures that transformation does not clash with operational matters?
There is a lesson in this for all aspiring black executives. That is, since executives belong to a pool of global talent, the challenge of becoming a majority in South African companies is good, but not enough. Ultimately the dominance to aspire to is global.