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Marcel Golding
Marcel Golding (born 29 June 1960) is a South African businessman and former trade unionist. He is best known for his tenure as executive chairman of private-equity firm Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) from 1997 to 2014. During that time, he was also chief executive officer of e.TV from 1999 to 2014. He is currently chief executive at African & Overseas Enterprises and maintains directorships in the gambling, retail, and other sectors.
Golding rose to prominence in the 1980s as the assistant general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), an affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. He represented the African National Congress in the National Assembly during the first post-apartheid Parliament from 1994; he resigned his seat in 1997 in order to take over the running of HCI. HCI was initially conceived as a vehicle for NUM investments, but Golding himself acquired a billion-rand stake. He left HCI and e.TV in October 2014 after falling out with fellow former unionist Johnny Copelyn, who was his longtime friend and business partner.
Golding was born on 29 June 1960 in Johannesburg in the former Transvaal. He grew up in Crawford and played soccer at the provincial level, but his plan to become a professional player was scuppered in 1975 when he was hit by a car and broke his leg. He completed a bachelor's degree and honours degree at the University of Cape Town, where he worked as a lecturer from 1980 until 1983, when he was appointed as a research writer at the South African Labour Bulletin.
He was subsequently recruited into the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as a press and publicity officer. From 1985 to 1993, he served as assistant general secretary of the NUM, led until 1991 by Cyril Ramaphosa. He was elected to the position for three consecutive terms; on the second occasion, in 1987, he narrowly defeated future NUM leader Gwede Mantashe, receiving 572 votes against Mantashe's 552. The NUM was at that time the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), a close ally of the African National Congress (ANC), and in 1987, under Golding and Ramaphosa, it organised a historic nationwide mineworkers' strike.
In December 1991, Ramaphosa was elected as secretary general of the African National Congress (ANC) – though Golding himself failed to gain election to a seat on the ANC's National Executive Committee. Golding, as Ramaphosa's deputy, became acting general secretary of the NUM and a frontrunner to succeed Ramaphosa permanently. His candidacy was controversial because he was viewed as a leading member of a faction which opposed the growing influence of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the union. In January 1992, the NUM's central committee voted to elect the SACP's Kgalema Motlanthe as interim general secretary and Golding returned to his former post as assistant general secretary.
In 1993, Pallo Jordan recruited Golding to work on the ANC's campaign ahead of the 1994 general election, which would be South Africa's first post-apartheid election. During the campaign, Golding wrote speeches for presidential candidate Nelson Mandela and became one of 20 senior COSATU officials who stood for election on the ANC's party list. He was elected to ANC seat in the National Assembly, where he chaired the Portfolio Committee on Mining and Energy until 1997, when he resigned from his seat to run the NUM's investment wing.
Golding established the NUM's Mineworkers Investment Company (MCI), owned by an NUM trust, and struck up a close partnership with Johnny Copelyn, who had left Parliament at the same time as Golding to run the investment wing of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (SACTU), another large COSATU affiliate. In 1997, Golding and Copelyn each reversed a number of their companies' assets in exchange for a controlling stake in Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI), a holding company headquartered in Cape Town and publicly listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Golding was installed as executive chairperson and Copelyn as chief executive officer.
HCI was the first ever union-controlled investment company listed on the JSE and was viewed as one of the best managed. The model of union investment pioneered by Golding and Copelyn through HCI was controversial among leftists, and, in some accounts, that model "changed the face of the country's labour movement", promoting the rise of "business unionism". In 2007, Golding, in an interview with Ben Turok, said that he viewed himself as a "social entrepreneur". He explained his and Copelyn's union investment model:
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Marcel Golding
Marcel Golding (born 29 June 1960) is a South African businessman and former trade unionist. He is best known for his tenure as executive chairman of private-equity firm Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) from 1997 to 2014. During that time, he was also chief executive officer of e.TV from 1999 to 2014. He is currently chief executive at African & Overseas Enterprises and maintains directorships in the gambling, retail, and other sectors.
Golding rose to prominence in the 1980s as the assistant general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), an affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. He represented the African National Congress in the National Assembly during the first post-apartheid Parliament from 1994; he resigned his seat in 1997 in order to take over the running of HCI. HCI was initially conceived as a vehicle for NUM investments, but Golding himself acquired a billion-rand stake. He left HCI and e.TV in October 2014 after falling out with fellow former unionist Johnny Copelyn, who was his longtime friend and business partner.
Golding was born on 29 June 1960 in Johannesburg in the former Transvaal. He grew up in Crawford and played soccer at the provincial level, but his plan to become a professional player was scuppered in 1975 when he was hit by a car and broke his leg. He completed a bachelor's degree and honours degree at the University of Cape Town, where he worked as a lecturer from 1980 until 1983, when he was appointed as a research writer at the South African Labour Bulletin.
He was subsequently recruited into the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as a press and publicity officer. From 1985 to 1993, he served as assistant general secretary of the NUM, led until 1991 by Cyril Ramaphosa. He was elected to the position for three consecutive terms; on the second occasion, in 1987, he narrowly defeated future NUM leader Gwede Mantashe, receiving 572 votes against Mantashe's 552. The NUM was at that time the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), a close ally of the African National Congress (ANC), and in 1987, under Golding and Ramaphosa, it organised a historic nationwide mineworkers' strike.
In December 1991, Ramaphosa was elected as secretary general of the African National Congress (ANC) – though Golding himself failed to gain election to a seat on the ANC's National Executive Committee. Golding, as Ramaphosa's deputy, became acting general secretary of the NUM and a frontrunner to succeed Ramaphosa permanently. His candidacy was controversial because he was viewed as a leading member of a faction which opposed the growing influence of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the union. In January 1992, the NUM's central committee voted to elect the SACP's Kgalema Motlanthe as interim general secretary and Golding returned to his former post as assistant general secretary.
In 1993, Pallo Jordan recruited Golding to work on the ANC's campaign ahead of the 1994 general election, which would be South Africa's first post-apartheid election. During the campaign, Golding wrote speeches for presidential candidate Nelson Mandela and became one of 20 senior COSATU officials who stood for election on the ANC's party list. He was elected to ANC seat in the National Assembly, where he chaired the Portfolio Committee on Mining and Energy until 1997, when he resigned from his seat to run the NUM's investment wing.
Golding established the NUM's Mineworkers Investment Company (MCI), owned by an NUM trust, and struck up a close partnership with Johnny Copelyn, who had left Parliament at the same time as Golding to run the investment wing of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (SACTU), another large COSATU affiliate. In 1997, Golding and Copelyn each reversed a number of their companies' assets in exchange for a controlling stake in Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI), a holding company headquartered in Cape Town and publicly listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Golding was installed as executive chairperson and Copelyn as chief executive officer.
HCI was the first ever union-controlled investment company listed on the JSE and was viewed as one of the best managed. The model of union investment pioneered by Golding and Copelyn through HCI was controversial among leftists, and, in some accounts, that model "changed the face of the country's labour movement", promoting the rise of "business unionism". In 2007, Golding, in an interview with Ben Turok, said that he viewed himself as a "social entrepreneur". He explained his and Copelyn's union investment model: