The rarity of black leadership in positions of influence in the financial services sector has always been a contentious issue, with lobby groups protesting vehemently at the perpetuation of anti-transformation practices.
Recent changes at the top in some banking giants have not gone unnoticed. The Black Management Forum (BMF) and the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (Abasa) have expressed displeasure at lack of commitment to ensure that black candidates were sought for the positions. Particularly, they refer to organisations like African Bank, Old Mutual South Africa, Sanlam and FirstRand (which had Sizwe Nxasana now replaced by Johan Burger).
With the performance of state owned enterprises (SOEs) betraying the pitfalls of putting black appointees in positions without the right experience, some have insisted that merit, regardless of the candidates should be the primary criteria in the financial services sector. A prominent person to have expressed such sentiments is former FirstRand CEO and founder, Paul Harris, in an interview with a popular weekend broadsheet, Sunday Times. He was quoted by the publication as saying: “It is no sense that strong people should not get the job because of the colour of the skin. Either you believe in merit or you do not. It’s straightforward.”
Siding with Harris, Abasa President, Tantaswa Fubu, was also quoted by the Sunday Times arguing that “transformation at its core assumes merit, otherwise it is tokenism”.
