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“100 Years of Anglo American” – Part 2
https://southafrica.angloamerican.com/~/media/Files/A/Anglo-American-Group/South-Africa/about-us/centenary-hub-docs/centenary-hub-city-press.pdf
Below are excerpts
Thus, just weeks after Mandela’s release Relly resigned and announced that his deputy, Julian Ogilvie Thompson, would take over.
In naming JOT, as he is familiarly known, as his successor, the company was firmly sticking to its inherent South African-British aristocratic-esque character. Born in Cape Town and the son of a former chief justice, JOT was a Rhodes scholar and an Oxford politics, philosophy and economics graduate.
He joined the company in 1957 as Harry’s personal assistant, was moulded in the Oppenheimer business style, and climbed the executive ranks to become chair of the corporation’s international arm, Minorco, in 1982. He became deputy chair of the company in 1983, and chair of De Beers in 1985. JOT was an Anglo-De Beers man to his core.
-In fact, it was under his leadership that Anglo American underwent the most significant and irrevocable corporate transformation of its history. The merger with its offshore investment arm, Minorco, in 1998 catapulted the company from a proudly South African mining group to an international industrial powerhouse that was not only valued at £13 billion, but now a member of the elite FTSE 100 Index. Given the far more global character of the company and a desire to attract international investors, it was decided to switch the company’s primary listing and head office to London in 1999.
Many people, however, point out that Anglo American’s first empowerment deal actually occurred decades earlier with the creation of Gencor in the 1960s out of the Afrikaner-controlled Federale Mynbou and General Mining.
-Exxaro’s Nkosi says: “They (Gencor) were, in today’s language, an empowerment company for Anglo American. If you look at the laws of apartheid – the ways they ravaged the black community – there was always a feeling that corporate South Africa, particularly Anglo American, benefited from apartheid. You can see the pictures of how they were treated; the hostels; the whole migrant system,” says Nkosi.
Ben Magara, the CEO of Lonmin, has nothing but praise for Anglo American.
“I’m from Anglo American; our chief financial officer is from Anglo American; our head of project management is from Anglo American; our head of business support office is from Anglo American; a number of our general managers are from Anglo American. I did not bring them to Lonmin, I found them here – such is the impact of Anglo American.
“When I meet people who are ex-Anglo American, I expect them to do things in a certain way. I think that that certain way can benefit this whole country,” says Magara.
Originally from Zimbabwe, Magara was swept into his career by a bursary.
“If Anglo American sponsored you, you were one of the cream of the crop. You got a place in varsity because government (Zimbabwe) gave you a 50% bursary and a 50% loan. As you arrive, the companies flock in. They look at the list and say, ‘we want to see that one or that one’. There were other companies, but if you are not called by Anglo American, you are not ‘it’.
“At varsity, I promise you, the Anglo American bursars had all the money. If it wasn’t for the Zimbabwean government and then Anglo American, I would never have gone to university. My parents would not have afforded it.”
Magara worked at Anglo American for 26 years – seven years in Zimbabwe and then another 16 at Anglo American Coal SA, where, at the age of 38, he became CEO. Prior to becoming CEO of Lonmin, Magara was part of Anglo American Platinum’s management team.
Magara took that job expecting it to be a stepping stone to Anglo American. Instead, it qualified him for rival Lonmin – “school fees”, as he puts it – where he took the reins in July 2013, in the wake of the historic strike in 2012 that culminated in the Marikana massacre.