NEWS
5
Black and white united in
action for generations to come
By Dineo Phoshoko
History has been made in the plumbing world, with Zweli
Mntambo becoming a major shareholder of plumbing company
Burgess and Partners. He acquired a 51% shareholding of the
plumbing company and holds the position of chairperson.
Zweli Mntambo’s name is not new to the public
sphere. Before he became a prominent businessman,
he traded as a lawyer and then lectured law at the
University of KwaZulu-Natal. From there he went
on to become the director general for the Gauteng
province. After this, Mntambo decided that he wanted
to be self-employed and ventured into business by
starting a management consulting company, which
he ran for 15 years. “It has been one of the most
successful things that I did, starting from zero,” said
Mntambo. He then pursued other business ventures
in various industries, including mining and tourism.
While attending a golf tournament in 2012, Mntambo
met John Burgess and the two became close friends.
John is Chris Burgess’s brother, who is the CEO of
Burgess and Partners. A few years later, Chris needed
advice as the company was in pursuit of a BEE candidate
to partner with the company. “We understood that we
needed to do this thing properly. We needed to embrace
black empowerment in a proper way and not window
dress,” said Chris. Through John, a meeting was set
up for the three gentlemen in 2015, to discuss the
company’s BEE plans.
Chris explained that there was an instant connection
between the three, a sentiment shared by Mntambo.
“I loved Chris, I loved John, and I fell in love with the
company’s family culture from day one.” When Mntambo
decided to join Burgess and Partners, everyone was
excited, including Craig Preston, who is the managing
director at the company. Mntambo came up with the
slogan ‘Black and white united in action for generations
to come’.
Zweli Mntambo (left)
and Chris Burgess
are excited about
the new partnership.
Continued on page 7 >>
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
September 2017 Volume 23 I Number 7