In a bombshell announcement released last night, former AngloGold Ashanti chairman Sipho Pityana has served legal papers on the Reserve Bank, claiming the bank is preventing him from becoming chair of Absa because former Absa CEO Maria Ramos ‘weaponised’ a false sexual harassment charge against him.
In an eight-page public statement, Sipho Pityana claims that Ramos, who succeeded Pityana as the chair of AngloGold Ashanti, has used her influence with the banking regulatory division of the Reserve Bank to prevent him from becoming Absa’s chair.
The person who Ramos allegedly influenced is head of banking regulation Kuben Naidoo, who according to Pityana has "long-standing professional, social and political relationships" with Ramos and her family. The Reserve Bank said last night it would challenge the allegations in court. Ramos did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ramos did not personally respond last night, but the AngloGold’s board said in a statement it "emphatically rejects the allegations … which are baseless". "The matter of Absa’s Chairmanship is one between Mr. Pityana and the Board of that company."
The sequence of events is complicated and the circumstances of the alleged sexual harassment are in dispute. Pityana flatly denies any sexual harassment took…
