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Johannesburg - Transformation was dealt a major blow on Tuesday at Sasol's annual general meeting (AGM) when the government pension fund, the Public Investment Commissioners (PIC), did not get the support of other shareholders and other critical players for its nominee, the PIC said in a statement.
The PIC, which holds a 13.28% stake in Sasol, nominated World Petroleum Congress CEO Imogen Mkhize as the first ever-black
woman director of the Sasol board.
A graduate of Rhodes and Harvard Universities, Mkhize is a seasoned businesswoman who sits in various boards of prominent institutions, the PIC added.
Mkhize is board member of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, GenRe South Africa, the Financial Markets Advisory Board and the Rhodes University Council.
"The PIC's nomination of Mkhize was guided by our commitment to transformation," the PIC added.
"It is high time that companies reflected the racial and gender demographics of South Africa in their boards, management and employment profiles," the PIC said.
For its part, the King II Commission Report counsels every board to "consider whether or not its size, diversity and demographics make it effective".
Other areas of interest to the PIC include affirmative procurement and skills development.
"The PIC believes that institutional transformation is too important a national objective for companies to pay lip service to," the PIC said.
"Mkhize's failure to make it as a non-executive director of Sasol reflects the extent to which some institutional investors talk the language of transformation in public, but do everything in their power to take the project out of voyage in the secrecy of the voting booth," the PIC added.
"While some regard transformation as 'risky', the PIC is convinced, as are the enlightened, that it makes good business sense while at the same time guaranteeing all to whom South Africa belongs a better future," the PIC said.
"Accordingly, the PIC will continue to advance the cause of
transformation by, amongst other ways, putting forward candidates that reflect the demographics of South Africa in boards of companies in which we invest," the PIC said.