A business leader has left us too soon
Jabu Mabuza drove a taxi until he could afford to buy his own. Later he would play key roles at Tsogo Sun, Eskom, Net1 and in black business organisations such as Busa and the Foundation for African Business. By
Few can claim to have accelerated their career paths from the perceived low rank of a taxi driver to steering a JSE-listed entity at group CEO level. Jabu Mabuza did it.
Sadly, the Jabu Mabuza who often donned a fedora hat, neatly trimmed grey beard and untucked shirts over his round belly, breathes no more.
The baritone voice of this short, strong man has been muted by what has been deemed to be Covid-19 complications. Mabuza (63) sailed to the celestial shores on 16 June. Although he was physically deprived from a height perspective, Mabuza was what the Nguni people would refer to as “Mdengentonga”, meaning short physically but tall in achievements.
A manoeuvrer of note and driven by the Winston
Churchill mantra of “never let a good crisis go to waste”, Mabuza will be remembered for, among other things, giving leadership during a disastrous moment in
SA. He demonstrated this when the country was in a tailspin following the firing of then finance minister Nhlanhla Nene by thenpresident Jacob Zuma in December
2015, when the country was battling a looming sovereign debt rating downgrade and a bleak global economic environment.
At the time Mabuza and Pravin Gordhan co-ordinated efforts between government and business to work together in rescuing the country from becoming a banana republic. Mabuza was one of the people critical to the mending of the shattered trust between government and business in South Africa.
Appointed by Zuma in 2016 as the
CEO of the Business and Government Initiative to look into the state of the economy, Mabuza led an effort to have honest conversations about South Africa. One of the outcomes was the establishment of the R1-billion SA SME Fund to aid small businesses. On the same platform, the government was asked to properly manage its fiscal affairs.
Mabuza also tried to preach unity in a period when black business formations such as the Black Management Forum and the Black Business Council increasingly distanced themselves from Business Unity South Africa (Busa), then seen to be biased towards the interests of established white businesses at the expense of economic transformation. A product of black business formations himself, Mabuza did not support a segregated approach to black economic empowerment. He believed black business needed to be part of Busa because this was where mainstream economic decisions were taken. Despite being the then president of Busa, Mabuza still commanded the respect of the Black Business Council.
Mabuza defended and supported black excellence. It was while he was the chairperson of technology firm Net1 that the company poached the charismatic banker Lincoln Mali from Standard Bank to become Net1 UEPS Group CEO.
When Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko faced allegations of taxirank-like misbehaviour involving bogus car number plates, Mabuza, as chairman of the telecommunications group,
was firm in his belief that Maseko was the best person for the job. Mabuza was proven right and Maseko steered Telkom well.
When Mabuza stepped down as Group CEO of Tsogo, he invested some of his capital and time in Sphere Holdings, a black business investment holding company run by brilliant people younger than him. Some used the Sphere Holdings relationship to sully Mabuza’s character.
Sphere Holdings, way before it was associated with Mabuza, held among its investments a company called Babcock, a supplier to power utility Eskom. The conspiracy theory emerged, when Mabuza chaired Eskom, that he was giving business to a company in which he had interests.
As street smart as he was, Mabuza had a tough time at Eskom. He would ultimately resign after failing to fulfill his promise to ensure the power utility kept the country’s lights on. It was an accountability move rather than a push to jump from Gordhan, the minister of public enterprises.
Despite the dark times at the electricity provider, Mabuza left a solid legacy.
In high school, he was caught up in the 1976 student uprising and was expelled. He completed his matric at Ohlange High School, started by the educator and founding president of the South African Native National Congress, John Langalibalele Dube.
Mabuza enrolled at the University of the North for a BProc degree, but dropped out to generate income. He worked in the civil service briefly, and he drove taxis in Johannesburg until he bought his own.
In the mid-1980s he became a taxi owner and a key member of the South African Black Taxi Association (Sabta).
In 1988, Mabuza was one of the visionary leaders who founded the Foundation for African Business and Consumer Services (Fabcos) alongside business leaders such as James Ngcoya (president of the SA Black Taxi Association at the time), Ellen Kuzwayo, Joas Mogale, Andrew Lukhele, Sam Tuntubele, Zithulele “KK” Combi, Knox Tsotsobe and Sam Buthelezi.
With the dawn of political freedom in South Africa, Fabcos put the black economic empowerment project on the agenda in order to ensure that small black businesspeople, especially from the informal sector, were properly represented as participants in the mainstream economy. He was also involved in the Urban Foundation at the dawn of democracy.
Mabuza was a corporate leader extraordinaire. As far back as 1997 he was country adviser to the Union Bank of Switzerland. He had a successful career at Tsogo Sun, having helped the firm to gain market share, including key casino licences. Before becoming Group CEO at Tsogo, Mabuza was managing director of Tsogo Sun Gaming from 1996 to 2006. Mabuza did so well as MD of the gaming division that then group chairman Johnny Copelyn elevated him to group CEO in 2006. He stepped down in 2011 after a five-year term. In his corporate life he held a number of board directorships, including that of AB Inbev Africa.
A real soldier has fallen.
Fabcos put black economic empowerment on the agenda to ensure that small black businesspeople
... were properly represented as participants in the mainstream economy