Tag: board of directors

In view of their important role in supporting governance, boards must take steps to protect whistle-blowers and promote a culture of whistle-blowing.

In detailing some of the crimes and misdemeanours that enabled state capture, the Zondo Commission’s report is in fact offering office-bearers across business and society a morality tale. In this spirit, the assessment of the performance of the erstwhile Chair of South African Airways, Dudu Myeni, acts as a case study of how important the role of the Board Chair is, and how not to do the job.

On 15 April 1912, the 'unsinkable' RMS Titanic sank after colliding with an iceberg. It took the RMS Titanic a mere 160 minutes to sink. Originally it was thought that the iceberg had only caused a single long gash in the hull. However, after examining the wreck, it was found that the collision had produced a series of thin gashes, as well as brittle fracturing and separation of seams in the adjacent hull plates, which had allowed water to flood five of the 16 compartments. Interestingly, the ship had received six ice warnings before the collision. Similarly, Government and corporate reputations can be sunk when warnings over minor acts of maleficence and misdemeanours are treated as a cost of doing business.

State capture, defined as 'seeking to influence the formation of laws in order to protect and promote influential private interests', and its resultant Zondo...

An interview with Parmi Natesan, CEO, The Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA), and Dr Ivor Blumenthal, CEO, ArkKonsult, discussing the importance of corporate governance, accountability, skills and independence for directors, so that they can fulfil their duties, in the light of the recent testimony by Dudu Myeni and Yakhe Kwinana at the Zondo Commission.

The recent testimony at the Zondo Commission by Dudu Myeni (former Chair of the SAA Board) and Yakhe Kwinana (former Chair of SAA Technical) should be a wake-up call both for directors and the government.

A recent tweet made by a director of Cricket South Africa relating to a cancelled sponsorship highlights an issue for South African boards: the risk represented by social media. Social media has become a key communications channel, but poses particular risks for organisations and especially their directors.

After a few months of COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa, there is no doubt that somehow all the rules seem to have changed for civil society, and indeed also for the world of business at large. Businesses across the world have had to quickly adapt to their respective COVID-19 regulations with South Africa having become known as a country with some of the strictest Covid-19 regulations in place in an attempt to flatten the COVID-19 curve, and save lives.

An interview with Parmi Natesan, CEO, The Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA), and Dr Ivor Blumenthal, CEO, ArkKonsult, discussing how boards need to take the lead in steering their organisations through crisis brought about by COVID-19.

The COVID-19 emergency has prompted much media coverage, panic in some quarters and severe market falls. At a time like this, it is vital that organisations act rationally.