Legacies take a life time to build, but just a split second to destroy. That’s what the Black Management Forum Bonang Mohale acknowledges.
In the past few years, there were signs that the 38-year old organisation had strayed off its mandate of acting as a medium for black professionals to engage in robust debate about important economic matters. Some of its leadership had turned it into an extension of a political organisation, a fact which Ruel Khoza, Nedbank Chairman and former president observed. Famously, he admitted: “Black business organisations have been hijacked by people who use them for political ends.”
The inevitable result was that the quality of the conversation had been deteriorating and membership dwindling as quality leaders took flight.
Now, Mohale is on a mission to return the BMF ‘back to its roots”. He mentions one of the signs that the BMF is becoming its old self is the returning of many senior leaders. “It’s still work in progress, but we are headed in the right direction.”