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shares. Performance targets do have to be met on a rolling three-year basis, but remuneration tradition in SA generally ensures these are within easy reach and can be adapted to cope with unexpected developments such as Covid-19.

Also, on the retail front, it appears Truworths’s very long-serving CEO Michael Mark is set to stay at the helm for another two years.

That will make it 32 years that’s he’s held the top position, which must be some sort of world record.

Apparently, the board has asked Mark to stay on as part of its succession planning. Surely the request is evidence of the board’s lack of succession planning?

How is it possible that they have not been able to identify and develop other talent within the group for the past 30 years? Can the group be that devoid of management talent?

And, far from the world of retail, last week former Old Mutual executive chair Mike Levett died. One of the sad things about this news is that, apart from his family, few people seem to have noticed. This is remarkable given that Levett was such a powerful force within the South African business community for much of the ’80s.

He drove the group’s demutualisation process and made the controversial decision to launch its primary listing in London in 1999. At the time Levett described the move as a “win, win, win” situation for Old Mutual, for its policyholders and for Southern Africa. It turned out to be a disastrous value-destroying venture for all three.

Levett himself scored quite nicely out of the move, collecting R150 million at the end of his two-year stint in London. That seemed excessive at the time but fast-forward almost 20 years to 2018, when Bruce Hemphill was awarded a R223 million package to unwind the London folly.