The former head of HR for South Africa and Botswana at PPC will now be a member of the listed company’s executive committee.
South Africa’s largest cement maker, PPC, has announced Ndima Rawana as its group HR director.
The decision comes after the exco, with the support of the company board of directors, decided to change the role of Head of HR South Africa and Botswana into the role of group HR Director. Ndima has held the former position since June 2021.
In a written memo, CEO Roland van Wijnen said Ndima will, as of 1 April 2023, be a member of the company’s exco.
“Also on behalf of my colleagues, I welcome Ndima to the exco and wish him well with the extended responsibilities. Over the relatively short time that Ndima has been part of the PPC family, he has demonstrated how HR can add value to the business. In order for us to embed the purpose-led and performance-driven Jabali culture, exco considers it vital that the HR function forms part of their team. At the same time, exco expects that the HR function remains well integrated in the day-to-day activities across the countries and business units.”
Ronald further clarified that the change does not entail any immediate changes of reporting lines within the HR function. “Country HR managers outside South Africa and Botswana maintain their reporting line to the country MDs and will have a dotted reporting line to the group HR director. Exco does expect that the group HR director provides the functional leadership and ensures that HR policies, procedures and systems are aligned across our operations,” he wrote.
Before joining PPC, Ndima was the head of HR at Johnson Matthey, an automotive company. Prior to that he was at SA Breweries as an HR specialist for District South (Port Shepstone, Mthatha and Butterworth).
One of his main priorities when he joined PPC was to take the company’s HR back to basics for it to grow. “To improve things, it’s important for the foundation to be right,” he noted.
On matters relating to HR professionals, Ndima is of the opinion that leaders need to act with integrity. “Honesty and acting with integrity go a long way and as an HR leader who understands the importance of this, the teams I lead tend to respond well in whatever strategies or business directions we undertake. I have seen this in the US where my counterparts tend to be direct and are quick to get to the point. In most cases employees just want to hear the truth and prepare themselves for whatever situation they may face,” he said.
Ndima holds an honours degree in human resources and industrial relations from the University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University).
