Departing Land Bank chief pulls no punches

LAND Bank’s outgoing CEO Phakamani Hadebe’s swan song speech was like no other.

He pulled no punches when he criticised the country’s leadership and also took a swipe at black professionals who failed to get involved in the country’s direction.

Speaking at his farewell party organised by the Association for Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP), in Sandton, Johannesburg, Hadebe said policies could not be entrusted to politicians alone.

That was while the ANC Business leadership was holding its meeting at the same venue and at about the same time.

The event was attended by the South African Reserve Bank deputy governors Lesetja Kganyago and Daniel Mminele, among other dignitaries.

Hadebe described the current environment in the country as “not encouraging”.

“We seem to have lost focus, and it is not clear where are we intending to go. While the world, especially in Africa — Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya — is moving forward, we seem to be retrogressing,” he said.

Hadebe said black professionals were now doing the minimum expected of them without clear understanding of the final output.

He sounded a warning, similar to that of Planning Commission Minister Trevor Manuel, that the National Development Plan would fail on- ly if the government did not implement it.

He said policies such as the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative, micro-economic reforms and New Growth Path failed not because all of a sudden the country’s professionals were not intelligent but because of a lack of commitment. “We lack direction.” Hadebe lambasted the middle class for remaining aloof. “We cannot expect to find individual solutions to national challenges,” he said, and urged ABSIP to pull up its socks and play a bigger role in influencing the country’s direction.

“Things should not only be left to the politicians,” he said.

Asked if he was not afraid of the ruling party slapping him down for being too critical as it has done before with other business leaders who did the same, Hadebe said South Africa was a democratic state “so we have to use our constitution”.

Hadebe was not impressed that there were more than 100 bills that would go through parliament by December without ABSIP having a say in any. He said he was disappointed by this.

He would not discuss his next career move.

However, speculation has been mounting that he will join Barclays Africa Group formerly known as Absa, headed by Maria Ramos, his former boss at the National Treasury. He rescued Land Bank from near collapse in 2009, when he was seconded from the Treasury.