[miningmx.com] – CYRIL Ramaphosa, elected deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC) at the party’s national conference in December, today began the process of withdrawing from the business arena.
In two separate announcements, Ramaphosa said he had resigned from the board of under-fire platinum company, Lonmin, where he is a non-executive director, and that he would relinquish the joint chairmanship of Mondi, the paper and pulp producer.
“Following his election as deputy president of South Africa’s ruling African National
Congress in December 2012, Cyril has reviewed his business commitments and has
now advised Mondi that he wishes to resign from his positions as joint chairman and
as a non-executive director at the annual general meetings of Mondi Limited and
Mondi plc on 3 May 2013,” Mondi said in its announcement.
“The wisdom of his contributions has been invaluable to the company,” said Lonmin’s Roger Phillimore. “We will miss his measured but forceful participation in our affairs’ Phillimore added.
Ramaphosa remains a director of Macsteel, the steel merchant company, but the bulk of his business dealings are in his capacity as executive chairperson of Shanduka Group, the diversified business he founded in 2000.
“I want to remove any form of conflictual situation with my role as deputy president of the ANC,” Ramaphosa said in an interview on CNBC Africa’s Political Exchange on January 16. He described his election to the post as “a life-changing event”, but added that avoiding such conflicts should come naturally to anyone.
Miningmx reported in December that if Ramaphosa steps back from his executive duties at Shanduka Group, it may give its executives more leash to accelerate a listing of the group on the JSE – a development CEO Phuti Mahanyele has already suggested is under consideration.
Shanduka Group’s interests are diverse and include mining, such as a joint venture with Swiss trading group Glencore, in coal; financial services, industrial and property, as well as MacDonald’s and Coca-Coal Shanduka Beverages.
All in all, there are 20 separate investments, but Shanduka has been reviewing its exposure to certain industries.
In the 12 months, the company has taken the scalpel to its portfolio in an effort to transform itself into an operating company with control over cash flow and strategic decision-making.
