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Industrial Development Corporation CFO Isaac Malevu has relinquished the role just a week after the group reported a R4.7bn loss for the 2026 financial year.Malevu’s resignation also comes as the group is engaged in high-level discussions with the government over its recapitalisation.The IDC on Thursday said Malevu will leave office at end-November, having joined the entity in 2020.“Since then (2020), he has served the corporation for almost six years, contributing to the corporation’s sound financial stewardship, governance and institutional stability, and instilling investor confidence and continuity through a period of senior leadership transition,” the IDC said in a statement.“He will be returning to the commercial sector to pursue the next chapter of his professional career in the private sector and will continue to contribute and support public-private partnerships that advance sustainable development and economic growth.“The IDC will communicate any further developments regarding the CFO role in due course. The corporation remains committed to ensuring an orderly transition and continuity in its financial leadership.”While the core company remained highly profitable, underperforming subsidiaries and heavy tax bills dragged the overall group into a R4.7bn loss for the year ended March from a profit of just over R300m in the prior year.Read: ‘Survival mode’: IDC warns SA’s growth engine is collapsingThe losses were mainly centred on the IDC’s majority stake in fertiliser producer Foskor, which reported a R2.8bn loss for the year, and the Mozal smelter in Mozambique, which was placed on care and maintenance earlier this year after failing to seal a favourable deal for electricity.Foskor had a torrid year, losing about six weeks of production due to mine flooding that led to two fatalities, a situation that was worsened by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which led to prices of sulphur and ammonia surging, making the resumption of production commercially unviable.This poor performance did not stop the IDC disbursing R17bn in development funding and mobilising a further R27.9bn from co-funders.Trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau said the IDC had played a critical role in containing deindustrialisation and preserving South Africa’s productive capacity by supporting the recovery of strategically significant but distressed industries.However, he said the financial results deserved attention.“While the IDC’s developmental achievements are commendable, its performance over the past year also points to areas requiring sharper focus,” Tau wrote in the company’s annual report published on Thursday. “The pipeline was weighted towards large, complex transactions that offered limited short-term developmental returns, contributing to uneven progress against key impact indicators.“This highlights the need for the IDC to continue managing a careful balance between maintaining the quality and sustainability of its portfolio and responding to opportunities that preserve jobs, support strategically important distressed enterprises, and protect critical industrial capacity.”The results come as the IDC weighs a deal to bail out steelmaker ArcelorMittal South Africa, having already ploughed more than R2bn into the stricken steelmaker.In addition, the IDC recently staved off the liquidation of sugar producer Tongaat Hulett.The IDC has recently put forward several requests to the government via its shareholder minister, Parks Tau, the political principal of the key department of trade, industry & competition, for tax exemption and guarantees to shield its balance sheet from risky investments.In essence, the IDC has officially approached the National Treasury to request an explicit government guarantee to strengthen its balance sheet. Business Day
