Former activist and business leader Cas Coovadia is the special guest on the Crossing the Line podcast show this week.
Former activist and business leader Cas Coovadia is the special guest on the Crossing the Line podcast show this week. The podcast was started last year by media veteran and former Cape Times editor, Ryland Fisher, and has already showcased just under 20 guests. As part of our partnership, IOL features one of these interviews every week.
Coovadia spoke about his involvement in civic organisations during the struggle against apartheid, and why he forfeited a political career when South Africa became a democracy, instead choosing to become a “business activist”. He reflected on his 15 years as the managing director of the Banking Association of South Africa, his five years at the head of Business Unity South Africa and his role last year as the B20 Sherpa for South Africa during the country’s year as head of the G20. He also reflected on the need for economic transformation in South Africa.
Coovadia was on the list to join the Gauteng provincial legislature on behalf of the African National Congress after the first democratic elections in 1994. He declined because he and some colleagues were in the process of starting a low-income mutual bank, called Community Bank.
