Five Tongaat directors to leave
Tongaat Hulett said on Monday that five longserving directors including chair Bahle Sibisi, will leave the embattled agriculture and agriprocessing group at the end of September.
Tongaat Hulett said on Monday that five long-serving directors, including chair Bahle Sibisi, will leave the embattled agriculture and agri-processing group at the end of September.
The company announced in June that it had hired PwC to launch an investigation after it uncovered suspicious accounting practices.
The group’s shares on the JSE and the London Stock Exchange have been suspended since June.
In a move to turn its fortunes around, the KwaZulu-Natalbased company is mulling a restructuring that could entail job cuts and the sale of assets.
Tongaat said in a statement on JSE’s Sens that Sibisi, who has been a nonexecutive director since 2007, will step down as chair and director on September 30. Other long-standing nonexecutive directors set to leave the firm are Rachel Kupara, Thandeka Mgoduso, Tomaz Salomão and Brand Pretorius.
Tongaat said Pretorius, a former CEO of McCarthy, reached board retirement age of 70 in 2018 and his tenure was extended but “has now come to an end”. Pretorius has been on the board since 2011.
Kupara and Mgoduso have served on the board since 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Salomão, a former executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community has been on the board since 2015.
Stephen Beesley and Fatima Daniels will remain on the board. Former Absa deputy CEO Louis von Zeuner, who has been with Tongaat since 2018, will be the new chair.
The company said new board members — with effect from October 1 — would be executive head of Anglo American SA, Andile Sangqu; chair of the financial reporting investigation panel of the JSE, Linda de Beer; and former CEO of Aquarius Platinum, Jean Nel.
Tongaat said the new directors were appointed “to enhance governance across the company and to support the company through the implementation of its various strategic initiatives”.
AN EXTENSIVE RESHUFFLE WILL SEE LOUIS VON ZEUNER REPLACE BAHLE SIBISI AS CHAIR WITH EFFECT FROM OCTOBER 1