Board of
directors
Independent Non-executive directors
Independent non-executive chairman
Dip Law, Grad Dip Company Law
Appointed 1996
David Nurek (71)
Member of the remuneration and nominations committee
Member of the social and ethics committee
Directorships: Non-executive chairman of Trencor.
Expertise and experience: Legal, commercial and governance. David practised as an attorney with Sonnenberg Hoffman Galombik for 32 years, including 23 years as a partner and director. He joined Investec Group in 2000 and was regional chairman of the group’s Western Cape businesses and global head of legal risk for the Investec Group. David retired from the Investec Group in 2019. He has served as non-executive director and chairperson on boards of listed companies for many years, including as chairperson of The Foschini Group and Lewis Group, and non-executive director of Aspen Pharmacare and Pick n Pay Stores.
Independent non-executive director
B Econ (Hons) (cum laude), M Com, D Com
Appointed 2008
Prof. Fatima Abrahams (59)
Chairperson of the remuneration and nominations committee
Chairperson of the social and ethics committee
Directorships: Lewis Group and The Foschini Group. Chairperson of TSiBA Education.
Expertise and experience: Human resources and remuneration. Prof. Abrahams is an academic, experienced company director and a registered industrial psychologist. She is currently a senior professor (part time) at the University of the Western Cape, having also served as dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.
Lead independent non-executive director
B Com (Hons), CA (SA), CMS (Oxon)
Appointed 2008
John Bester (75)
Chairman of the audit and risk committee
Member of the remuneration and nominations committee
Directorships: Non-executive director of HomeChoice South Africa, Intembeko Investment Administrators, Personal Trust and Tower Property Fund. Trustee of the Children’s Hospital Trust and the Children’s Hospital Foundation Trust.
Expertise and experience: Accounting and finance. John spent 16 years in the accounting profession, including serving as a partner of Ernst & Young for 10 years. He has been involved in commerce and industry for a further 40 years.
Independent non-executive director
B Sc, CA (SA)
Appointed 2008
Fatima Daniels (61)
Member of the audit and risk committee
Directorships: Momentum Metropolitan Holdings, Rand Refinery, AfriSam and various MTN subsidiaries.
Expertise and experience: Accounting and finance. After spending six years in the auditing profession Fatima went on to lecture in financial accounting and then spent over a decade in various positions in corporate South Africa. She has served on the boards of JSE-listed companies since 1995.
Independent non-executive director
MB ChB, MAP (Wits), GMP (Harvard)
Appointed April 2021
Dr Penny Moumakwa (56)
Directorships: Growthpoint Healthcare Property Holdings, RCL Foods, Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre and the Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre.
Expertise and experience: Medical and healthcare. Penny is a medical doctor with extensive senior executive experience in the private and public healthcare sectors. She was previously an executive director of Discovery Health and an executive committee member of Discovery Holdings. She is the founding CEO of Mohau Equity Partners.
Independent non-executive director
B Com, B Compt (Hons), CA (SA), H Dip Tax
Appointed March 2020
Mfundiso Njeke (63)
Member of the audit and risk committee
Directorships: Datatec, Delta Property Fund and Motus Holdings.
Expertise and experience: Accounting and finance. Mfundiso (“JJ”) is a chartered accountant by profession. After serving as an audit partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers for six years he co-founded Kagiso Trust Investments where he was group managing director from 1994 to 2010. JJ is currently the chairperson of investment company Dlondlobala Capital, which he co-founded in 2012. He is a past chairman of the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Independent non-executive director
B Com, B Compt (Hons), M Com (Development Finance), H Dip Tax Law, CA (SA)
Appointed September 2021
Sango Ntsaluba (61)
Member of the remuneration and nominations committee
Member of the social and ethics committee
Directorships: Non-executive chairman of Thungela Resources and non-executive director of Kumba Iron Ore and Goldplat plc, and previously served on the Black Economic Empowerment Commission.
Expertise and experience: Accounting and finance. Sango was a founding partner of SizweNtsalubaGobodo (now SNG Grant Thornton), one of the largest auditing firms in South Africa. In 1997 he joined Transnet as general manager of group finance before being appointed as an executive director responsible for restructuring, a position he held until 2002. He served as executive chairman of NMT Capital from 2002 until 2020. He is the founding CEO of investment holding company Aurelian Capital.
Independent non-executive director
Appointed 2006
Martin Rosen (71)
Member of the remuneration and nominations committee
Expertise and experience: Retail and marketing. Martin is an accomplished retailer and marketer, having spent 33 years with Pick n Pay before starting his own marketing consultancy in 2004.
BOARD DIVERSITY POLICY
The group has adopted a policy to ensure diversity on the board, specifically relating to race and gender but also in respect of broader diversity attributes such as skills, qualifications and experience, age and culture. In line with the policy the board appointed two non-executive directors during the year, namely Penny Moumakwa and Sango Ntsaluba. These appointees will be proposed to shareholders for election at the annual general meeting in January 2022. The board exceeds its voluntary targets in respect of race and gender representation, with 64% of directors being black (target 50%) and 36% of directors being women (target 25%).
Executive directors
Group corporate affairs director
B Proc, LL M, admitted attorney
Appointed as a director in 2008
Bertina Engelbrecht (58)
Expertise and experience: Corporate affairs, strategic planning, stakeholder engagement and human resources. Bertina will be appointed as chief executive officer in January 2022. She joined the group as group human resources director in March 2006 and her responsibilities were expanded in December 2020 to include strategic stakeholder engagement. She was previously general manager for Shell SA Energy and regional human resources manager for Shell Oil Products Africa. Prior to this she was director of organisational effectiveness at Sea Harvest, managed her own consultancy practice and spent eight years with Transnet.
Chief financial officer
B Com, CTA, CA (SA)
Appointed as a director in 2011
Michael Fleming (54)
Expertise and experience: Accounting, finance and investor relations management. Michael was previously chief financial officer of Tiger Brands Limited. He joined the Tiger Brands group in 2000, was appointed as financial executive of the Tiger Brands consumer brands division in 2005 and promoted to chief financial officer in June 2008. While CFO of Tiger Brands, he also served as a non-executive director of Oceana Group Limited.
Chief executive officer
B Com, MBL
Appointed as a director in 2019
Vikesh Ramsunder (50)
Member of the social and ethics committee
Expertise and experience: Retail and commercial. Vikesh was appointed chief executive officer in January 2019. Prior to this he was chief operating officer of the Clicks brand from 2015, and was managing director of UPD, the group’s pharmaceutical wholesaler, from 2010, where he was instrumental in driving UPD’s integrated pharmaceutical wholesale and distribution strategy. He has served in store, logistics and management positions across the group since joining in 1993.