Mining magnate Patrice Motsepe has thrown down the gauntlet to his fellow wealthy counterparts in South Africa: walk the talk. In a country ranked as the most unequal society in the world in the latest Gini coefficient index, Motsepe’s example is resounding.
Motsepe, whose net worth was calculated last November by Forbes at $2.65 billion (R24bn), has announced that he will give away half of the income generated by his family assets to charity. The Motsepe Foundation will fund education, health and other initiatives that contribute to our social development.
This is a bold move by the 51-year-old qualified lawyer, who owns African Rainbow Minerals & Exploration Investments.
He joins other South African philanthropists – such as Donald Gordon, Mark Shuttleworth, Francois van Niekerk and Allan Gray – who have collectively poured billions into making this a better country.
By developing-world standards, South Africa is a relatively wealthy country – more than half of the continent’s dollar millionaires live here, yet the extreme poverty we see brings tears to the eyes. The country’s unemployment rate remains far too high by international standards, and contributes to much of the social tension and disenchantment experienced daily. Unemployment rates increased to 25.50 percent in the third quarter of 2012 from 24.90 percent in the second quarter of 2012.
Social strife remains our Achilles heel.
And the well-off who believe they can isolate themselves from the daily realities are only fooling themselves.
Motsepe put it well when he said: “People in my position, and me in particular, have a huge responsibility to South Africans who are less fortunate – those who are unemployed, poor and marginalised – to make a humble contribution to improve their lives and living conditions.”
Motsepe has shown the way by his generous, far-sighted initiative. It is a move that other business people must embrace. It is an investment in this country’s future.