Sygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka is not getting any love letters from Net1 boss Serge Belamant, after she recently exposed his group's predatory lending to social grantees. And her fearless streak has won her plenty of other ardent non-admirers: notably President Jacob Zuma and his allies, plus her rivals in the asset management industry, whose juicy management fees she both attacks and undercuts. South Africa's richest woman, worth R1.5-billion according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List, has no time for the tacit vow of often-expedient silence that binds many of South Africa's corporate leaders. She is part of a small but growing group of voluble dissidents, with Reuel Khoza and Sipho Pityana leading the charge. And Wierzycka is horrified by last week's cabinet reshuffle and the junk status it has triggered. "The lack of international capital is what brought down communist countries, it's what ultimately brought down the National Party," she said this week. "Nothing else. So knowing ...
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