SPECULATION has resurfaced that former labour department director-general (D-G), Jimmy Manyi, is due to be unveiled as DG for the mineral resources department (DMR).
An industry source said over the weekend the DMR is ready to make the announcement shortly, possibly this week – a development that would fulfill a long-held ambition for Manyi who is currently president of the Black Management Forum.
He was judged odds-on favourite to succeed Sandile Nogxina as the DMR’s D-G in 2011, especially as he was the ANC Youth League’s then favoured candidate. However, Thibedi Ramontja took the post – a position he held until late last year when he resigned amid the surprise redeployment of then mines minister, Ngoako Ramatlhodi.
David Msiza, the DMR’s chief engineer, has been acting D-G since the beginning of the year.
Mines minister, Mosebenzi Zwane, declined to confirm Manyi was in the frame for the job when asked by Business Day in May, but he said that interviews had been completed and a recommendation had been made to the Cabinet. It would discuss the recommendation at its meeting on May 25 and that an announcement would follow, he said at the time.
Manyi has a national diploma in economic geology from the University of the Witwatersrand. He worked for 10 years at Anglo American’s gold department – five years as a practising geologist at the former President Brand gold mine in the Free State – before moving to Anglo’s head office.
He is also known for his abrasive style, most memorably for his remarks that there coloured people were over-represented in the Western Cape, said Business Day.
The Chamber of Mines declined to comment on the potential appointment, but it’s understood there is a degree of disquiet in the organisation about the DMR’s anointed.
Spokesman for the DMR, Martin Madlala, said that Msiza “… remains the acting D-G until the recruitment process is finalised. Any announcements will be made after all processes have been concluded”.
