The unfolding South African Peter Moyo vs Old Mutual case is beautiful for the lessons it provides boards and executives simultaneously on various aspects including director conflict of interest, conflict management within a board and, most importantly, crisis management and communication. It is the latter aspect that I want to focus on today.
By way of quick summary, on May 24, 2019 the board of Old Mutual Limited released a statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange that it was suspending the CEO, Peter Moyo. A few weeks later, another statement was released that Mr Moyo’s employment was being terminated. The reason given was concerns that had emerged relating to a conflict of interest in a company in which MrMoyo was the chairman and in which Old Mutual was a shareholder.
