Chairman ‘failed victim’
The Black Business Council has called for “harsh action” to be taken against the former chairman of the board at Imperial Holdings following Mark Lamberti’s resignation as CEO.
While the council welcomed Lamberti’s resignation from the logistics group and as a board member of Eskom and Business Leadership SA, it called for action to be taken against Thulani Gcabashe for having sided with Lamberti.
“The Black Business Council is disappointed with Gcabashe as we expected him to be a progressive agent of change … as he experienced discrimination first-hand in his illustrious career, instead of being a keen defender of the old order,” said council CEO Kganki Matabane.
This comes in the wake of a high court ruling that Lamberti discriminated against a former employee, Adila Chowan.
“Chowan turned to Gcabashe twice for help,” the council said. “She wrote two letters to Gcabashe pointing out unacceptable behaviour by Imperial CEO Lamberti and another executive, Ockert Janse van Rensburg. Gcabashe did not only dismiss her charges but subjected her to a disciplinary process for raising the grievance in a behaviour characterised by the judge as somewhat irrational.”
Chowan was fired in 2015 following allegations of misconduct. She was summarily suspended and investigated after laying a grievance centred on Lamberti’s comments.
“We would also like to acknowledge and thank the companies for taking a firm position against sexism and racism. These companies have demonstrated that they could not harbour a racist and sexist in their midst,” the council said without elaborating.