Ramaphosa drawn into IS race row
2010-05-09 13:00
Top businessman Cyril Ramaphosa is
awaiting a report from Investment Solutions (IS) after news that the firm fired
a black investment analyst for allegedly criticising its failure to promote
black people to senior positions.
“We are waiting for a report from the company regarding this
matter. I read about this in the media like everybody else. The issue raised is
clearly challenging, but I will be able to respond after I have received the
report,” he said.
Ramaphosa’s Shanduka Group has a 25%
black empowerment stake in IS, the asset management arm of Alexander Forbes. It
has another 25% in Alex Forbes, the pension fund administrator.
IS manages R152 billion on behalf of 1 900 clients, including
pension funds and corporations.
Last week City Press disclosed how four IS executives orchestrated
a plot to axe Unathi Ndlovu, an investment analyst, allegedly for “poor
performance”.
Five sources with links to the company told City Press that Ndlovu
was dismissed after she questioned IS’s implementation of its transformation
policies, which allegedly flouted employment equity laws. An e-mail leaked to
City Press revealed how Glenn Silverman, the company’s chief investment officer
for global business, asked three of his colleagues to back a plan to force
Ndlovu out of the firm by November last year.
In the e-mail, Silverman described Ndlovu as an “adept politician”
and a “wound that needs to be excised”.
The departure of Peter Moyo, a former chief executive at Alexander
Forbes, in 2007 led Ramaphosa to publicly
disclose that he had considered disinvesting in the group.
At the time he cited his frustrations over a perceived lack of
transformation as the reason for his public disclosure.
Moyo’s departure was linked to the company’s decision to bring in
Bruce Campbell as an executive chairperson.
It has been more than two years since the incident occurred, but IS
has shown little improvement in transformation.
An employment equity review conducted last year by the labour
department found that the company was dominated by white men at senior and
middle management levels, and that whites, by and large, were earning more than
their black counterparts.
The labour department’s assessment led to the drawing up of IS’s
equity plan, which was intended to redress racial imbalances at the firm. Ndlovu
allegedly clashed with her bosses over the plan.
IS managing director, Derrick Msibi said he would develop black
people with the potential to take over senior positions. He admitted this week
that the asset manager needed to double its efforts to darken skin pigmentation
at the top.
Labour department director-general Jimmy Manyi said he would call
for an urgent meeting with IS to get to the bottom of the allegations.
“If these allegations are true... then the company has breached
the agreement signed not only with the labour department but with the people of
South Africa in relation to the transformation agenda of this country.
“During a substantive assessment, IS was found to be wanting in
complying with certain provisions of the Employment Act and, as a result, the
company was issued with recommendations to comply with the law.”
- City Press