Dis-Chem’s leadership is facing a huge amount of pressure from shareholders as the pharmaceutical retail group has zero black representation at the executive management level.
The company’s leadership was questioned about the lack of representation at their annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday.
A shareholder questioned the slow pace exhibited by the company when it comes to transformation and questioned why Dis-Chem had zero percent representation of black individuals at the top management level and only 14.2% in senior management.
“Could the chair explain why there has been such slow progress in relation to race transformation at top and senior management positions?” a shareholder wrote to the leadership.
Dis-Chem CEO Rui Morais explained that the company had historically “limited churn” at the exco level.
The company has had long levels of employment when it comes to senior management and therefore it has been difficult to get people of colour at this level.
Morais said that Dis-Chem is trying very hard to push transformation at this executive level.
“Obviously, as we think about diversity targets, if the opportunity presents itself to the group, the transformation will be pushed as an agenda item,” Morais said.
“And that's how we structure the employment equity targets for executive management and throughout the management levels,” he added.
Dis-Chem leaked memo
In 2022, Dis-Chem founder and then-CEO Ivan Saltzman sparked major controversy when an internal memo was leaked to the public.
The memo called for a moratorium on hiring white managers in a bid to improve Dis-Chem’s employment equity and transformation objectives.
Saltzman’s letter drew ire from white people incensed by the top-down instruction, while black people were offended by being referred to as “blacks” in the letter.
The Dis-Chem board later apologised to South Africans for the inappropriate tone used in an internal memorandum.
IOL Business has contacted Dis-Chem to enquire more about its diversity plans and what led to the lack of representation at the company's leadership level.
IOL BUSINESS