The year troubleshooting CEOs fell

| Wednesday December 22, 2010 00:00

Thapelo Lippe, BTC

Seventeen months into a brilliant high-flying tenure at the state telecommunications company during which profits shot up by about 300 percent, Lippe was served with a suspension letter in February under a cloud of controversy following reports of a FIFA World Cup ticket deal that allegedly went sour when the state company lost about P2 million.

Following the revelations, BTC Chairman, Len Makwinja, could only confirm Lippe's suspension but declined to give reasons, saying only that investigations would be carried out with audit company Delloite tasked with the probe.

In June, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Frank Ramsden, told Parliament that Lippe was suspended by the board to allow for investigations on allegations of failure to follow appropriate procedures in the procurement of the 2010 FIFA World Cup tickets.

Eight months down the line, in October, Lippe finally had his contract terminated, but still Makwinja only confirmed the termination and assigned no reasons. However, immediately after being served with notification of termination, estranged Lippe vowed to take legal action against his former employers for unjustified dismissal.

Although Lippe himself refused to answer questions, his lawyer Cyril Ziman confirmed to Mmegi that they would be taking legal action against BTC for wrongful dismissal. If Lippe sticks to his word, certainly this case will be among those to follow in the New Year as exact details of his transgressions should come to the surface.

Thuli Johnson, BarclaysThis is another one which was just as controversial as the BTC saga, but different in the sense that Johnson did not fight to hang on to his post but disappeared quietly. Around September, media reports referred to a scandal at Barclays Bank involving allegations of credit card abuse and inappropriate and/or undeserved promotions.

After a tip-off from a whistleblower, the bank was embroiled in seedy rumours about junior bank officials linked to a 'sex for promotion' scam. It was alleged that some official credit cards were abused in the process.

So serious were the allegations that some senior investigators from the bank's chapter in Zambia and Dubai were called in to assist with the probe.

During the course of the investigation, the females at the centre of the allegations were reportedly shifted around in departmental transfers. Although the bank officials initially refused to comment on the matter, bank employees first broke the news that their boss was fired after an impromptu meeting with the Dubai officials.

After a few days of investigations, Chairman Rizwan Desai confirmed in a media release that Johnson had left the bank after seven years at the helm during which he turned the company into a very profitable business with the widest network in the country.

Immediately after Johnson resigned, the bank announced that Usman Ahmed would be acting in the position, a decision which was reversed a few days later upon the intervention of  Bank of Botswana.

It is understood the central bank wanted a Motswana to take over in that position as part of its localisation efforts.Willard Mpai was eventually appointed acting CEO; next year should see him either being confirmed or replaced.

Blackie Marole, DebswanaAfter driving the government cash cow, Debswana, through and out of the recession which crippled the diamond markets, Blackie  Marole will be leaving the company in the next few days. Just a year into his second five-year tenure, it seems Marole either did not deliver or fell a victim to internal power wrangling between the two shareholders, the Government of Botswana and De Beers.

Although no official reason has come from the shareholders about why Marole is leaving, the grapevine says he is a victim of boardroom politics. Says Debswana in a press release: 'Marole had agreed that it was the right time for new leadership to tackle Debswana's current and future challenges,' suggesting that he was forced to retire.However, unlike at BTC or Barclays, just a month after the announcement of Marole's departure, the board replaced him with Canadian Jim Gowans who will take over effective January 2011.

David Cutting, Standard Chartered Having taken over at the country's  oldest bank in 2007, Cutting was due to leave his post in August 2010, but his departure was delayed by a couple of months after the central bank allegedly declined the bank's choice of replacement.

According to reports, the bank had identified Serty Leburu to take over the reigns at Stanchart, but she apparently failed the central bank's fit and proper test. Eventually, Cutting left in November and Michael Wiegand ( Regional Head of the Consumer Banking division, Southern Africa) is acting in the position while the process of identifying a local to take over is ongoing.

Leburu's rise to the helm at the bank would have completed the full circle in the financial sector, with four of the biggest banks run by Batswana. Leburu would have also become not only the first woman, but the first Motswana ever to head the bank in its 113 years in the country.

Thapelo Matsheka, CEDACitizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) CEO, Thapelo Matsheka, left his post in June for Aon Botswana. Unlike the others that were pushed, Matsheka left for greener pastures after spending 10 years at CEDA. CEDA has not appointed a substantive CEO while one of their deputy MDs has also left. In May, Deputy CEO (Operations) Lorato Morapedi took over from Oaitse Ramasedi who left NDB last year to become CEO of a relatively new entity, the Non-Banking Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA).