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BBC CEO denies he was forced to quit

Black Business Council (BBC) CEO Mohale Ralebitso has denied he was forced to resign from the organisation, just more than a year into his tenure, because of his support for Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

Ralebitso was among 81 South African CEOs who last week signed a pledge of support of Gordhan against what many see as an undeclared war against Treasury by a faction of the ANC aligned to President Jacob Zuma.

The group bought advertising space in various newspapers to publicise their pledge in one of the business sector’s most overtly political statements since the dawn of democracy.

This pledge seemingly contradicts the official BBC position on the Gordhan affair.

On October 11, the organisation issued a statement arguing that the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to charge Gordhan with fraud wasn’t political interference.

“Nobody pushed me,” Ralebitso told City Press this week.

He also claims that the BBC’s position was not at odds with the pledge he signed.

“We [the BBC] have maintained that the rule of law must be respected in regard to the minister and there musn’t be disruption of the South African economy. My signing of the pledge is in the same vein,” he said.

Ralebitso was appointed CEO of the BBC in October last year, after what its president, Ndaba Ntsele, called an extensive and rigorous search. He will remain CEO until the end of November, and will then return to his business Itataise Investments, which he said required his services more because of the difficult economic environment.

The BBC, whose membership includes bodies such as the Black Management Forum, the Association of Black Chartered Accountants, and the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals, has been criticised by, among others, AngloGold Ashanti CEO Sipho Pityana for its stance on the fraud charges against Gordhan, which many have dismissed as trumped up.

Mohale said the BBC had also been critical of moves that had disrupted the economy and continued to do so.

“There are a number of unfortunate developments that have served to deliver those unneeded disruptions, and we have frowned upon those before and that frowning upon them remains,” he said.

“The BBC remains inside the rule of law.”

The organisation has in the past argued that it supports Zuma because of his support for BEE, the launch of the Black Industrialist Programme and the participation of the BBC in the Brics business council.

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