Retirement and appointment of new Chairman at Sasol

September 09, 2013 | People on the move

Sasol's headquarters in Rosebank, Johannesburg

Sasol’s headquarters in Rosebank, Johannesburg

Johannesburg –  After seven years on the South African petrochemical giant, Sasol board of directors, two as a non-executive director and five as the Sasol Chairman, Mrs Hixonia Nyasulu, has indicated that she will step down as chairman and director of the Company at its annual general meeting on 22 November 2013. The Sasol board appointed Dr Mandla Gantsho as chairman of the board of directors of the company with effect from the close of the 2013 annual general meeting.

Dr Gantsho’s appointment follows the Chairman Succession Planning process of the Board, overseen by the Nomination, Governance, Social and Ethics Committee and driven by Prof Juergen Schrempp, the Lead Independent Director of Sasol.  The Board has considered the fact that Dr Gantsho had been a director of the Company for 10 years and confirmed his independence.

Mrs Nyasulu said: “It has always been my intention to serve as chairman for a period of five years and I am pleased the board’s considered approach to succession planning has made this possible. I would like to congratulate Mandla on his appointment and wish him well in his new role. Mandla is a highly respected board member and I am very pleased to hand-over the chairmanship of this great company to so competent a director.  These are exciting times for Sasol as the group executive committee, under David’s sound leadership, shapes and designs the Sasol of the future.”

Dr Gantsho said: “It is an honour to accept this appointment as chairman. I would like to thank Hixonia for her outstanding seven year contribution to Sasol. I am looking forward to serving this exciting company in a new capacity.”

Mr David Constable, the chief executive officer of Sasol said: “It’s been a great pleasure working with Hixonia. In addition to being a superb chairman, Hixonia’s warm and constructive leadership has been an inspiration to me. I wish Hixonia much success in the future and thank her for the years of guidance she has given to Sasol. I look forward to working with Mandla, in his new role as chairman, knowing his expertise and experience will be beneficial to Sasol and its stakeholders.”

Dr Gantsho qualified as a chartered accountant in 1987 and is currently the chief executive of Nova Capital Africa. He was the Vice President Operations: Infrastructure, Private Sector & Regional Integration of the African Development Bank from 2006 to 2009, and before that, the chief executive officer and managing director of the Development Bank of Southern Africa. He is also a director of Impala Platinum Holdings Limited and the South African Reserve Bank, and chairman of Ithala Development Finance Corporation.

He has served on the boards of several South African companies, including Group Five Limited and AfroCentric Investment Corporation Limited. Dr Gantsho also served as a Commissioner of the Finance and Fiscal Commission, a body set up in terms of the South African Constitution to advise the South African parliament on intergovernmental fiscal transfers and the Myburgh Commission of Enquiry into the rapid depreciation of the rand.