If you are a board director or a chair of a state-owned enterprise entity (SOE) and you lack the courage of your convictions to ward off a bullying minister or president, you are not worthy of the position.
These are the words of Dr Reuel Khoza, former Eskom board chair, who presided over the power utility from 1997 to 2002.
In an interview with Sunday World last week, Khoza encouraged board leaders, especially in a government setting but not limited to it, not to allow politicians, however powerful they may seem to be, to interfere in their work.
The requirement for good boards and their chairs must encapsulate traits of competence, knowledgeability, integrity, fairness and transparency, among other attributes, including understanding what fiduciary duties entail, which is a legal obligation to act in the best interest of the organisation.
This also means that no person, boss, minister or even a president can dictate terms or persuade the incumbent to act outside the prescriptions legally expected of the position.
These essentials, said Khoza, have the effect of serving as a buffer and to protect board members and their chairs from being reduced to playground toys by the overzealous government executives preoccupied with political agendas and dictates.
He said, short of this, boards will be weakened, and will in large measure, assume roles of being a master’s voice and lose the essence of what their mandate as guardians of good governance ought to be.
“If you have all these attributes, you will become a good director or board chair because you are guided by principles of ethical standards,” Khoza said,
He emphasised that no board member, particularly those attached to state-owned entities, should lack the capacity to stand up for what is right and ethical. If they do not have the capability, they are not worthy of the position they hold.
Driving his point home, Khoza said at some point in his career as chairman of Eskom, he was approached by a minister, asking him to do his bidding, but mustered the courage “to brush off the request he had made”.
“I could not have acted that way as demanded by the minister because I knew what my obligations were, and that I was not beholden to an individual or a minister or even a president, but to the organisation and its wellbeing. State or public boards carry huge responsibility. You must be able to recognise or say, ‘I am here to serve, and the organisation is more important than self-interest’,” he said.
Turning to accountability, Khoza made no bones about its importance, stating that “I am accountable to myself and to shareholders, employees and communities”.
Also, Khoza added, that the independence of mind and ethical leadership coupled with probity and competence are qualities expected of board and company directors.
“Good and ethical board chairs, especially those tasked with heading private or public companies, particularly state-owned entities, have no choice but to act independently outside the sway of powerful leaders – a tool that will ward off ministers or presidents who might be bent on corrupting the system, or give instruction outside the mandate you are expected to carry out,” he said.
Khoza, among several chairpersonships he holds, chairs the Assupol Insurance board, is the chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is an accomplished author with a passion for music.
