Axed Absa board member Sipho Pityana wants the bank to take him back or compensate him. Absa dismissed Pityana from its board in November 2021, which he is challenging in court.

‘I am asking the court to set the decision of the Absa board aside and return me on the board, or to grant me a fair and equitable compensation,’ Pityana told Fin24.

Pityana said it was not about the money. He is fighting for the ‘principle that directors should not fear retaliation’ if they decide ‘to act independently’ in ways that might not sit well with their fellow board members.

‘It's not about Sipho Pityana wanting to be back on the board of Absa because of how he's going to live without the income from that board. I don't need it. But it sets a wrong precedent for a board to remove a director for acting with independence,’ he said.

Pityana filed papers against Absa in December but the matter is yet to be argued before a judge.

In January, Pityana wanted Absa to hand over minutes showing how its board decided to fire him. But Absa has asked the court to throw his case out.

Pityana fired his latest salvo on Monday, asking the court to force Absa to hand over those minutes and the video recording of the meeting where the board determined his fate.

Before his axing from the Absa board, Pityana took the banking sector regulator, the Prudential Authority (PA), to court, alleging that the PA told Absa that it would object to Pityana's appointment as the bank's chairperson.

So, the board never submitted his name as the leading candidate.

When the Absa board removed Pityana, it said he neglected his fiduciary duties and was derelict in the performance of his functions.

Full Fin24 report