AFTER 90 days in the hot seat at Richards Bay Minerals, managing director Mpho Mothoa is feeling comfortable about the way he has settled in after filling a five-month void following the departure of Elaine Dorward-King.
‘I literally hit the ground running. This is a complex business, but a great one and I walked into a very welcoming environment.
‘RBM is a metallurgist’s dream, spanning the spectrum from the mining process to the finished product, but ultimately people must be treated as your best asset,’ says Mpho.
‘While we are driven to get results, we must be human at the same time and I subscribe to a leadership model that is visible and felt. Morale was lower than one would have liked when I got here.
‘The business is going through change, which is always painful, and we have the double whammy of low demand and weakened prices.
‘People feared losing jobs, but we are here for the long road and are positioning ourselves for better times ahead.
‘At the moment we must look at what we can do to weather the storm and put plans in place.
‘Even when good times do come, investors will be cautious – there will be no big boom as in the past.
‘But I am an optimist by nature. The mid- to long-term fundaments are still strong and the new smelter plus the Zulti mining lease show that we are getting ready to position ourselves and that the shareholders have faith and will invest.’
Staff solidarity
Part of the preparation is identifying aptitude within the company, promoting career paths and exporting local talent into the group.
It also embraces staff and unions being included in training, and strengthened engagement between leadership and teams.
Mpho says lessons must be learned regarding the matter of labour brokers, ‘a broad issue for the nation’.
‘We want to create as many jobs as possible, therefore temporary and more flexible labour helps.
‘My experience in Namibia, where labour brokers were banned, leading to ‘camouflage’ and more abuse of workers, is that a compromise must be workshopped and reached.
‘Eventually Namibia brought back the amended practice, with two major conditions: one, that brokers must employ their workers and the other, that they must pay the worker close to what the company is paying the broker.’
Family man
Worker safety is another non-negotiable for Mpho.
‘We are proud to be benchmarked as the best in the world in terms of process safety, but ironically this can also lead to complacency and slackness.’
Despite being part of the massive global Rio Tinto/BHP Billiton empire, Mpho says his job is fully autonomous.
‘Although we need clear alignment as a group , we are not dictated to and can’t have decisions being made elsewhere.’
On the personal side, Mpho is a passionate family man whose wife Dorcas, a qualified teacher, is his strength.
With their four children, they enjoy sport and the outdoors, with Mpho still looking for time to assault the golf course.
A football fanatic, he supports Kaiser Chiefs and Chelsea.
