Business Times reports that newly appointed Massmart CEO Mitchell Slape has at last received his work visa for SA and will soon take up his new position.  

It was announced in May that Slape would take over as CEO as soon as he obtained his visa.  Asked last week about the reason for the delay in Slape's arrival, the retailer’s Brian Leroni said the application process required that the applicant obtain police clearance from countries they have lived in.  In Slape's case, this included applying for clearances from numerous countries, including India, Japan, Mexico, China, Argentina and the US.  "The work permit application is only submitted when these clearances are available.  In this context we do not have the view that the work permit process has been unduly lengthy," Leroni observed.  On Thursday, Massmart confirmed the visa had been issued, though it did not say when Slape would be in SA.  Guy Hayward, who is still CEO, has been overseeing operations pending Slape's arrival.  In Massmart's latest trading update, a number of resignations of senior managers at Massdiscounters and Masscash, the group's worst performers, were advised.  "It appears like more of a clean-out than actual resignations.  Whether that's from the new CEO before he formally starts work is yet to be seen…” analyst Damon Buss said.

• Read the full original of the above report by Adele Shevel at BusinessLive (paywall access only)

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