Tag: 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.

Conclusions and recommendations made in part one of the state capture inquiry report align closely to a letter sent by the Institute of Directors South Africa (IoDSA) to the Zondo Commission in September 2021. The letter included recommendations on director competencies as well as the nomination and selection of directors.

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.

Is it time to broaden the traditional concept that directors owe a duty to the company only? There is an interdependency between companies and South African society, which mirrors the African concept of Botho, otherwise known as Ubuntu, which translates to ‘I am because you are; you are because we are’.

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.

The delinquency provisions in the Companies Act are emerging as a key remedy against misconduct by directors in both the public and private sectors. What we have seen recently is that these delinquency provisions are increasingly being used to hold directors to account for misconduct. Directors must take note of this, because the penalties are extremely severe.

The amendments to the Competition Act, 1998, which introduce criminal liability for cartel conduct, came into effect on 1 May 2016.

Management guru, Peter Drucker, is often quoted as saying, 'If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage [or improve] it'. Constructive feedback is integral to a process of development, growth and improvement, not least in an organisational setting, and especially in the case of boards of directors.