Spent a very productive hour on Friday with Sir Mick Davis, the former SA mining magnate who was recently appointed CEO of Britain’s governing Conservative Party.
Now 58, the boy from Port Elizabeth who became an executive director at Eskom while in his 20s, went on to become one of the leading personalities in the global mining sector. During the in-depth interview which is on Biznews Premium this morning, the intellectually gifted Davis generously shares lessons and insights.
He’s equally open on the reality of South Africa today – having bluntly told the Zuptoid mining minister last year that SA is not a country into which he would be able to justify investment.
During our discussion Davis, who prefers Mick to “Sir”, repeated the four reasons he believes this is so – changing BEE requirements; poor productivity; degrading infrastructure; and corruption. All are eminently fixable. But not by those politicians currently in power. Roll on 2019.
