Principal speaker
Professor Derick de Jongh
Its twenty years since the end of political apartheid in South Africa and recently the world lost Madiba - Nelson Mandela. But economic apartheid has not gone away in this resource rich country. However, in a tremendous effort to make capitalism clean and fair the country has pioneered world-leading reforms in black economic empowerment, corporate governance and reporting. What can Australia learn from South Africa?' This presentation will firstly position the history of Corporate Governance in South Africa from an international perspective, drawing some parallels on developments in the USA and Europe, most notably around Sarbanes Oxley (SOX, US) and the Cadbury's report (UK). The presentation will shed light on corporate governance form a variety of angles including media analysis, interviews with 16 thought-leaders on Governance in South Africa and a survey of 2,000 Directors on the state of Corporate Governance in South Africa.
Prof Derick de Jongh is the founding director of the Centre for Corporate Citizenship, at the University of South Africa.
He has contributed on a variety of levels, both locally and internationally, towards advancing the field of corporate responsibility. His roles in the Global Reporting Initiative, the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative and the United Nations Global Compact are indications of his passionate commitment. After dealing intensely with corporate responsibility practices, codes, standards and reporting, he concluded that a lack of leadership is one of the critical issues confronting the global community. His view is that “moving beyond compliance is possible only if you have leaders who are deeply concerned about the world we live in and how the business sector can contribute in a positive way to building sustainable future societies.”