He left HCI and e.TV in October 2014 after falling out with fellow former unionist Johnny Copelyn, who was his longtime friend and business partner.
[1] He grew up in Crawford and played soccer at the provincial level, but his plan to become a professional player was scuppered in 1975 when he was hit by a car and broke his leg.
His candidacy was controversial because he was viewed as a leading member of a faction which opposed the growing influence of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the union.
During the campaign, Golding wrote speeches for presidential candidate Nelson Mandela and became one of 20 senior COSATU officials who stood for election on the ANC's party list.
[8][2] Golding established the NUM's Mineworkers Investment Company (MCI), owned by an NUM trust, and struck up a close partnership with Johnny Copelyn, who had left Parliament at the same time as Golding to run the investment wing of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (SACTU), another large COSATU affiliate.
[13]Golding pointed out that the unions and their constituencies additionally benefited not only from dividends to the trust but also through HCI's own multimillion-rand philanthropic foundation.
[13] Nonetheless, over the next decade, HCI's activities were frequently controversial among unionists, and COSATU made moves to attempt to restrain Golding and Copelyn on several occasions.
[21] Copelyn argued that he and Golding had gotten rich by taking on risk in their personal capacities in defence of investments they believed in.
[30] On 22 October 2014, HCI announced that Golding had been suspended from his chairmanship pending a disciplinary hearing into gross misconduct charges.
[32] The Mail & Guardian speculated that both explanations were "red herrings" and that Copelyn and Golding had fallen out over some other, undisclosed matter.
[10][35] e.TV later acknowledged in a statement that "the boundaries of editorial control were not clear to everyone involved" in certain projects that covered government activities.
[34][38] At the time of his resignation, he had superseded Copelyn as the largest individual shareholder in HCI[31] with an eight per cent stake, which he retained after leaving the company's employment.
[19] After leaving HCI, Golding retained several directorships – including at Tsogo Sun[8] – and made additional investments in construction and finance.
[39] He was appointed as chief executive officer of African & Overseas Enterprises in September 2018 and as of 2022 served as chairman at Texton Property Fund.
[40] Golding is married to Bronwyn Keene-Young, a businesswoman who served as e.TV's chief operating officer until October 2014, when she resigned shortly after her husband.