Clifford Raphiri, who was appointed interim chair of Murray & Roberts (M&R) on December 1 has resigned, making him the fourth board member to abruptly quit the troubled group since its M&R Ltd and OptiPower units were placed in business rescue on November 22.
No reasons were given for Raphiri’s abrupt departure.
Non-executive director Jesmane Boggenpoel left in mid-December and non-executive director Alexandra Muller, who was appointed in July 2022, resigned on December 9.
Suresh Kana, who had been group chair since July 2015, resigned on November 30 and was temporarily replaced by Raphiri. His resignation took effect on January 10.
Alex Maditsi, the board’s only remaining independent non-executive director has been named acting chair with immediate effect.
Since joining the board in August 2017 Maditsi has sat on committees for social and ethical issues, health, safety, and the environment, and compensation and human resources.
A former operations, planning, and legal director of Coca-Cola Southern and East Africa, Maditsi is the as MD of Copper Moon Trading. He has a wealth of legal, business, and remuneration expertise. His qualifications include BProc, LLB, and LLM.
The departure of four directors from the engineering and contracting major in quick succession comes just after M&R asked the JSE to suspend trading of its shares, and further erodes the group’s prospects as it navigates business rescue and a severe cash crunch.
The group chose to put the two divisions into business rescue to deal with various of issues, including a lack of liquidity. M&R shares were trading at R1.10 when the suspension came into effect on November 22, a steep drop from its three-year high of R14.35.
M&R’s executive committee comprises seven members including CEO Henry Laas and CFO Daniel Grobler.
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