Zero tolerance for misdeeds led to an undignified exit from SAB

A further managerial challenge, in some ways more fraught than that posed by Robin Gobey, was that of Dr BV Msengana. He had been at the breweries a little longer than me and had been overlooked for the position of GM, which deepened antagonisms towards me within some Xhosa business and political groupings.

Building relationships within these communities was essential for expanding SAB business opportunities via the development of taverns. I was also mindful that future networking opportunities for my post-SAB business ventures could be jeopardised.

Dr BV was an affable man. He and I were the only Africans in senior leadership positions at Ohlsson’s at the time, disproving the humiliating apartheid doctrine that said otherwise of black people – that regardless of whether a black person had academic or professional qualifications, they needed to recognise their inferior status and understand that they were excluded from holding senior positions in South Africa.

This was one of many ways to discourage the aspirations of black people. The last thing the system wanted was a black person managing white people.

In appointing Dr BV and myself to our positions, SAB was in essence defying the system. At my first meeting with Dr BV, I warned him that the eyes of colleagues, particularly white colleagues, were upon us. We were to be more professional than any other of our colleagues and, more importantly, we had to be cleaner than Mr Clean.

I was flabbergasted, therefore, when almost ten months after I assumed office, the financial manager, Steve Parker, approached me with an allegation that Dr BV was involved in inappropriate use of company resources. He did not present any hard evidence, but I thanked him for bringing the matter to my attention.

I called Dr BV to my office and informed him about the allegations. While no evidence had been put forward, I felt the need once again to warn him that he and I carried the burden of proving our white compatriots wrong in their belief that black people could not be trusted to lead with integrity.

He denied any wrongdoing and asserted that these allegations had been made up by his white colleagues to besmirch his good name. Given the environment of the day, I believed him. I met with Steve Parker and expressed my concern about “unfounded” allegations.

A few months later Steve once again came to my office, only this time with a file of documents, including written reports by some directly affected persons. It turned out that Dr BV, over many months, even after my warning meeting with him, had indeed been involved in dubious shenanigans. He had purchased airline tickets, rented cars and booked hotel rooms in Durban and Port Elizabeth, ostensibly to attend interviews for vacancies at Ohlsson’s Breweries.

Investigations had proven that no such interviews had taken place. Some of the candidates he listed in his reports as having been interviewed on the identified dates had submitted affidavits denying that they had met him or been interviewed on the dates in question.

I had the difficult task of confronting Dr BV with this evidence. I invited Steve Parker to the meeting and asked him to go over the files and evidence with us.

Dr BV was embarrassed, but he offered no credible explanation for the indiscretions. I was left with no option but to ask him to resign or be fired. He asked to meet privately with me, and I gave him this courtesy. At this meeting, he asked me to reconsider.

I told him I could not help him – he had not only compromised himself, but had lied to me. There was no going back for him, and he left the company.

He was replaced by the well-qualified Mark Blankenberg, who steadied the ship in the HR department, and whose mother-in-law, coincidentally, played bridge with Fazila. DM

This is an edited extract from Defying Barriers by Sam Montši, available from leading bookstores.

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.