[miningmx.com] — BOBBY Godsell, chairman of Business Leadership and a director on several mining company boards, said it was corrupt of companies to make board appointments on the basis of their political reach.
“Hiring people to a board because of their political connections is corruption,” he said in reponse to questions at a Finweek business breakfast where Godsell spoke on South Africa’s prospects in 2011.
“The problems with political corruption starts when individuals seek influence, but I would like to see it addressed in the business arena first. It should be stopped,” he said.
Godsell delivered a wide ranging presentation which spanned the role of South Africa’s National Planning Committee, the maintenance of the country’s infrastructure, and Africa’s place in continental growth.
At one point, he expressed his sympathy for the task given to the country’s Department of Minerals and Energy (DMR) which embarked on the conversion of privately held minerals to state ownership, a process involving the issue of some 150,000 mining licenses.
“This is a fantastically difficult administrative job,” said Godsell adding, however, that the DMR should hire more people and get the job done. “Having that piece of paper [mining licence conversion] is important to everyone. In the conversion of mining licences we should acknowledge the problems and fix them.”
The DMR announced last year that it had placed a moratorium on the application for prospecting licences amid claims of corruption and fraud as well as excessive delays caused by red tape.
The N word
Commenting on the spectre of nationalisation of South Africa’s mineral resources, a policy proposal of the ANC Youth League, Godsell declared himself “unfussed” by the issue. “I’m not fussed about ownership,” adding that effectiveness in the management of mineral resources was more important. He claimed not to be interested by who owned SAA [South African Airways], but whether its website worked properly.
However, Godsell observed it was interesting that the rise of the nationalisation debate had occurred in the teeth of the financial crisis, a development that had imperilled empowerment transactions in South Africa’s mining industry where the business terms were based on share prices and their performance.
“That sounds like a bit of a bailout,” he said of nationalisation as a topic of interest in the country.
Godsell was formerly CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, a director at Anglo American, and chairman of Eskom, South Africa’s power utility.
