It was Elvis who said it best in his song Tiger Man
I am the king of the jungle
They call me the tiger man
And jungle jim is humbly declining to be the king of Tiger Brands after Nick Dennis resigns in February. Renee Bonorchis wrote an opinion in yesterday's Business Day. The title sums up her sentiments, "Last thing Tiger Brands needs is Jimmy as CEO".
She touches on a bunch of issues that dog our controversial hero, things like his EE fiasco last year where he claimed a bunch of companies hadn't submitted their reports when they in fact had. And thne there is the claim that SA has no skills shortage. She is mildly amused by the BMF's "shock" at Dennis's resignation and suggests that this was jim's doing.
What Bonorchis didn't ask in her article was "how much time does Jimmy actually spend at Tiger Brands?" He very rarely appears in the press in his capacity as group executive of corporate affairs, he was barely quoted during the bread and milling cartel situation. But he is always in the press and on TV and the radio in his BMF capacity. And much of this activity happens during working hours.
I am still trying to figure out this man I call jungle jim. The press seems to find him approachable and pleasant - and people I know who have met him seem to like him. But he has to be the most racially obsessed person in South Africa. I'm not sure whether this is his BMF mandate or if it's something that he alone is pursuing. His crusade is to prove that corporate South Africa is racist. Alexander Forbes is a case in point.
Peter Moyo was born in Zimababwe and came to South Africa in 1990. He had plans to eventually make his way to the USA but never got there. He seems to have made South Africa his home and has done particularly well - he appears to be very good at what he does. What isn't clear is whether Moyo is a naturalised South African and if so when it happened. This is important because we would need to figure out whether he is a beneficiary of BEE or not. Black is defined in the codes as:
- Africans, Coloureds and Indians
- who are natural persons and are citizens of the Republic of South Africa by birth or descent; or
- are citizens of the Republic of South Africa by naturalisation before the commencement date of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act of 1993; or
- became citizens of the Republic of South Africa after the commencement date of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act of 1993, but who, not for Apartheid policy that had been in place prior to that date, would have been entitled to acquire citizenship by naturalisation prior to that date.
Moyo doesn't fit into the first category, in order for him to be "black" he'd need to fulfill either of the remaining two criteria.
Moyo then leaves Alex Forbes (rumours are that he wasn't liked at all) and Bruce Campbell takes over from him. jungle jumps up and down claiming racism and constructive dismissal and leaves the casual observer with two thoughts.
- It's not clear whether Moyo is a beneficiary of BEE. He might be filled in as a foreign national in the EE reports. If this is the case then Moyo is technically not black. If Moyo is not black then jungle has no grounds for his transformation diatribe. His only other choice is to play the overused race card - and maintain the all of corporate South Africa is racist.
- He then builds on the racism construct and claims that Moyo was fired because he was black. The message here is very clear, black executives may not be removed from their positions (irrespective of the reasons for the dismissal). If they are removed then it is clearly racist - and no corporate wants that kind of stigma attached to their organisation. This is tantamount to sheltered (and lucrative) employment.
Many of jungle's utterances follow similar lines. They do not appear to be informed, they are shot from the hip replacement (as Ronnie Apteker would say).
In conclusion:
Can any company afford to have a CEO of a multiple billion rand company who gains more notoriety out of his work activities than in his capacity as CEO?
And is it feasible to have a CEO who is more than willing to damage his and his company's reputation by offering an uninformed opinion?
Bonorchis answers the latter point
"At this point in its life Tiger Brands needs to improve its image, not wreck it and I'm afraid after Manyi's performance this year, he's a wrecker. "
