It was the extraordinary decision in March 2017 by then-president Jacob Zuma to fire finance minister Pravin Gordhan that saved Lonmin from an ignominious end and opened the way for a more dignified and considered exit as a listed platinum company.

Lonmin, then the world’s third-largest platinum miner, was operating under the constraints of debt covenants as it lurched from crisis to crisis brought on by legacy decisions around strategy, the mishandling of labour matters that ultimately led to the Marikana massacre in 2012 and increasingly desperate and unpopular calls on its shareholders to prop up the business...