It was a real gathering of the mining clan this week when Sibanye-Stillwater said farewell to founding CEO Neal Froneman, who retired at the end of August.
But the gathering also included many others one might not have expected to see at a tribute to a man who famously called SA a failed state.
Froneman has been blunt in his criticism of government. But he has also pitched in over the past couple of years to lead business’s partnership with government to fight crime and corruption.
In his last couple of weeks at the helm, Froneman presided over two other key events for the company: its interim financial results and its annual memorial for the 44 miners killed in 2012 at Marikana, now a Sibanye mine.
Put it together and a question is whether Froneman will in the end be remembered as much for his sometimes disruptive sociopolitical contribution as for his role as a disruptive, risk-taking mining entrepreneur.
He leaves Sibanye on a high note, with a share price that has more than doubled over the past year thanks to record gold prices and a bounce in platinum group metals.
Froneman has a rough, tough persona. But he was profoundly affected, he says, when one of the Marikana widows presented him with a watch that had belonged to her slain husband. “It has pride of place in my collection of corporate achievements,” he said at the memorial, adding that Marikana taught him more than any leadership course could.
Froneman’s plan to buy the financially distressed Lonmin mines in 2019 was greeted with horror all round, not just because the mines — then called Eastern and Western Platinum — were so clapped out, but also because the legacy of the Marikana killings was so toxic. Instead of pushing it under the carpet, he chose to face it head on.
He renamed the mine Marikana, and the first thing he did was meet the widows. Sibanye launched the Marikana renewal programme in 2020 to “honour, engage and create”. It honoured Lonmin’s promises to provide houses for the slain miners’ families and invested in educating their children. It brought in NGOs, local leaders and development agencies to “co-create” development and ensure life after the mine. This has turned around Marikana’s toxic legacy.
Froneman has managed to combine speaking truth to power — loudly — with ‘doing the right thing’, his mantra.
It’s also made a lot of money, achieving cost synergies by consolidating Marikana with the next-door Rustenburg and Kroondal mines it acquired, and reaping rich rewards when platinum group metal prices soared in 2021-22, when it was in effect paying off the acquisition price every three months. And Froneman’s soft side was nowhere in evidence with the trade unions: he stood up to them and won, building relationships directly with employees.
He took on government, too, for its lack of leadership in combating lawlessness and failure to deliver services. He first made the failed state comments at Sibanye’s results presentation in early 2022, and held his ground even when his peers, such as Anglo’s Mark Cutifani, urged more “responsible” engagement with government, and mining minister Gwede Mantashe made veiled accusations about “insulting” government and threatened to revoke mining licences. Mantashe attended this week’s farewell gathering.
So too did business leaders who have partnered with government through Business for SA (B4SA) to tackle the energy, logistics, and crime and corruption crises. When Froneman joined their ranks in 2023 he said he hadn’t changed his mind about SA being a failed state but believed business could make a difference. He has made fighting crime syndicates a particular mission, co-chairing the crime and corruption workstream and working with SA’s law enforcement agencies.
Where Sibanye heads next is still to be seen. It took mines no-one wanted and turned them around, and its market value has multiplied. But the broader model in terms of business’s relationship with government and communities may be as important. Froneman has managed to combine speaking truth to power — loudly — with “doing the right thing”, his mantra.
He will stay on in B4SA and as chair of Business Against Crime and the World Gold Council. His new passion is bringing a Formula One Grand Prix to Cape Town. Not really retirement then.
• Joffe is editor-at-large.
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