WENDY LUHABE: African Bank owes public an explanation over Basani Maluleke’s exit
Did being a black woman make it easier for the board to let this excellent CEO go?
In 1991, I was overlooked for a promotion to a position I was qualified for, in favour of a white male. Like many white South Africans at the time, corporate SA pretended to be in favour of social and economic transformation. Yet when it came to the crunch, appointing blacks to senior positions was a bridge too far — seemingly a gulf regarding a black woman.
Thirty years later, under a democratic dispensation, a competent and capable young black woman, who rose to the daunting challenge to become the first black female CEO of a bank, resigns amid a successful turnaround, Covid-19 notwithstanding, and the board gladly allows her to leave. What board does that in 2021? Yet that is what the board of African Bank has just done. From what can be gleaned from public accounts and statements by the bank, it does not appear that either the board or the shareholders made attempts to persuade Basani Maluleke to stay. It seems to have been more a case of: if you want to leave, the door...
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