Reporting on annual general meetings has improved much since the JSE abandoned its early 20th-century approach to disclosure and now require listed companies to disclose the voting details on resolutions. Why the JSE waited so long is difficult to understand beyond the assumption that it wanted to shelter cronies.Of course, in the JSE’s defence, it’s only been in the past 10 or 15 years that AGMs have become anything other than pointless. Before that resolutions were almost inevitably passed by 99% of shareholders; an AGM was about as exciting as a Chinese Communist Party bash. But in the context of the improved disclosure, what should we make of Anglo American’s AGM in London on Monday? Most resolutions were passed by more than 90%, and the chairman’s and CEO’s speeches released. It seemed calm and choreographed. Unless you’ve been there for the whole 210-minute show. Stakeholders from across the globe had come to express their concern about some or other aspect of the multinationa...
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