Fred Roux speaks his mind and gets sacked as chairman of Impala Platinum.

JOHANNESBURG - Fred Roux, one of South Africa's more prominent mining men, was sacked as chairman of Impala Platinum by its board of directors at a meeting yesterday, ahead of Thursday's annual general meeting. Roux - who holds degrees in science, an MBA and a PhD - released a statement on the matter, and attached an e-mail sent to him this past Sunday by Niall Carroll, apparently in his role as CEO of Royal Bafokeng Holdings, which earns untold millions a year in the form of royalties from Impala, and separately ranks as the biggest shareholder in Impala.

The Bafokeng, a relatively small tribe in terms of numbers, are sometimes known as "the richest tribe in Africa". Carroll, no Bafokeng, shares in the largesse. While Carroll's e-mail refers to an apparently personal relationship between Impala CEO David Brown and Mark Willcox, a director at Mvelaphanda Resources, and other Mvelaphanda entities, Roux focuses more on certain of his chairman's comments in the 2009 Impala annual report, where he was overwhelmingly frank, referring, as a sample, to Impala's "underwhelming" production performance during the financial year to 30 June 2009.

In his e-mail to Roux, Carroll advises that he has spoken to three of Impala's four biggest shareholders, and most of Impala's non-executive directors. Then Carroll takes the swine, real or imagined, by the tits, real or imagined, and kicks Roux in the head: "given the developments of the past few months, however, I believe it is time for you to step down as chairman of the board in favour of Khotso Mokhele", an Impala non-executive director.

Carroll bled with charity, advising Roux that "we have no desire for this issue to become contested and in the public domain. I would suggest that you announce at the AGM that you will be stepping down as chairman at the end of December 2009, thereby allowing for a smooth and managed transition, with no reputational taint to anyone". Roux, of course, gave Carroll the proverbial fat middle finger, choosing to be sacked rather than resigning. Carroll tells me that Roux released the Carroll e-mail in an "inappropriate manner".

The Impala debacle has not touched Roux's reputation. Carroll knows about the issue of reputation, all right. During 2001, Carroll, as an executive of Deutsche Bank, Johannesburg, featured heavily in the Rand Commission hearings. The rand absolutely crashed during the closing months of 2000; Kevin Wakeford, then CEO of the South African Chamber of Business, publicly accused Deutsche Bank of deliberately speculating against the rand.

Urban legend had it that trading screens at Deutsche Bank in Johannesburg had screensavers stating "F*** THE RAND", but let's not get into that. The commission had a limited mandate, and Deutsche Bank made some kind of a settlement, a big one, with the South African central bank. For attempting to blow the whistle, Wakeford was fired as CEO of SACOB.

Roux has been sacked for blowing some kind of whistle. In his annual letter to shareholders, he referred to "difficulties associated with managing in the present-day environment of enlightened democracy" in South Africa. Roux discussed the need to seek a buy-in from the workforce, difficult as it was; "the situation is somewhat exacerbated by an entitlement attitude that now seems pervasive in our society, and leads to unrealistic expectations which often are difficult to meet".

Speak your mind in South Africa, and be damned. In his statement, Roux puts it so: "I have to concede, however, that the relationship between David Brown and me has been under a measure of strain recently. This was probably because, in my recent chairman's letter to shareholders, I did the unthinkable and actually criticised the Implats executives for a sub-standard performance during the past year. Basically, "over-promising and under-delivering". Fred Roux, we salute you.

Write to Barry Sergeant: barry@moneyweb.co.za

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The Royal Bafokeng Tribe Is the title Royal self-imposed or not? Looking at the indigineous "white tribes" in SA, who all came from Kingdoms, can we for example have the Royal Brits, the Royal Greeks and the Royal Portuguese (although ol' Fernando doesnt came across too . .more royal after five katembas!) ??? . .less by Piet on October 22 2009, 19:12 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Fear and Loathing Barry, this was a grand, grand report. Fred Roux, persist with the good work with your next venture! by Kobus on October 22 2009, 20:53 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Piet Piet Piet Why not the royal boertjie? by @ Piet on October 22 2009, 20:58 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

MOneyweb This website is becoming increasingly rasist. This is where you do your black lashing. Good luck Alec. by Motho on October 22 2009, 21:00 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Motho Anything said in this article that could be construed as "racist" was quoted, not written by the author of the article. Even then, there is little that could be described as "black lashing" by Doober on October 22 2009, 22:10 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

By the time..... South Africans stop the racist backbiting and continuous undermining of each other, the rest of the world will have built space vehicles, moved to another planet, advanced medical science to be able live to 150. Meantime, we toyi toyi and burn tyes . .more in the streets. It's quite pathetic actually. . .less by Dave on October 23 2009, 06:36 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

What's Roux position at SALLIES Anybody ? Has he been booted by FIREBIRD ? What about TOM DALE and others at SALLIES ? Does any body know ? by Zoro on October 23 2009, 06:58 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Great Article Barry, Any chance of publishing the e-mail ? Congrats on exposing this and hopefully we can keep the momentum going. by Brendan on October 23 2009, 07:17 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Fred Roux's pronouncements and actions give SA hope for the future. I did the unthinkable and actually criticised the Implats executives for a sub-standard performance during the past year. Basically, "over-promising and under-delivering". Isn't this what a chairman of any organisation is supposed to do? . .more South African business and government needs more leaders like Fred Roux. And that leads us to ask - What does does Business Leadership SA and Busa actually do? They can stop being so cosy in the old boys club and up government's proverbial and take a leaf out of Fred Roux's book. . .less by Marc on October 23 2009, 07:49 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Barry -you are one superb journalist! The detail-the style-superb! As interesting is the noise made by that Merc C63 driving Commie from Sandton-Julius the rubbish-is he going to nationalise the bafokeng tribes shares-eish lets see what they have to say about seeing their . .more dividends paying for his legal fees for drunken assault! . .less by SAM on October 23 2009, 08:32 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

barry is a legend ... simple bravo by pamplona on October 23 2009, 08:34 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Implats Barry you rock. When will all directors have the courage to practice good corporate governance? by Dave R on October 23 2009, 08:52 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Carroll!!! Seems this Carolls in the mining industry also behave like a woman. by Oracle of Delmas on October 23 2009, 09:54 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Well done Thanks for a good article that is coherent and gives a good idea of what is happening with investors money.! by King KOng on October 23 2009, 10:36 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

The Royal David Brown of Implats! Barry. This is a great article and well directed. Fred Roux is a quality exec and shouldn't have any sleepless nights worrying where his next meal is coming from. I was one of the largest minority shareholders in Barplats when Impala held . .more the majority. We even tried to buy the company when the "rocket scientists shut down the mining, but MrBrown declined. In his wisdom he eventually sold the majority shares to another party and then went on to focus his attention on their investments in Zimbabwe.... Today Eastplats (Ex Barplats ) is extremely well run and making excellent headway and Mr.Brown's mob are still making excuses to Implats shareholders.....! The current under-performance of Implats, Zimbabwe debacle and axing of Fred Roux are testimoney to the arrogance and lack of performance by our wiley friend - MrBrown. Maybe the shareholders should rethink his tenure, and maybe they would start earning some money for a change? . .less by ex Shareholder on October 23 2009, 13:14 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Storm in a tea cup - what is the real story Too much smoke. I don't see any shakespeare in this article. Impala's main setback thus far this year was a strike by workers, who some at least presumably have links with the Bafokeng. The article fails to highlight any specific wrong doings, other . .more than a general statement of "over promising and undelivering". There is no story here. There is no shakespeare here. I doubt the majority of shareholders are in dissatisfied. . .less by Long Impala platinum on October 23 2009, 15:30 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Motho Its the CHIP, man, The Chip by gilbert on October 25 2009, 17:34 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ Motho Like I said to 'clueless',- you lot should rather send your comments to the Sun newspaper,- far more appropriate audience. ( Mind you, you do provide us with a certain degree of entertainment.) by Voortrekker on October 25 2009, 22:51 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ Motho You boets don`t get it so I will spell it out clearly : `Die dag van die Afrikaner is nou verby in Afrika . Julle moet now maniere leer soos die res van ons . Die eerste studente vir die kursus is die okies van Reitz ` by JULIUS on October 27 2009, 09:58 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

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