Cape Town - Mining magnate and South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe has donated R12 million to help rid Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha of poverty and unemployment.
He announced on Tuesday that the money - R6m for each suburb - would be made available to two new forums, to be established in the Motsepe family name over the next few weeks.
The donation is part of Motsepe’s commitment to donate half of his family’s personal wealth to charity. He has pledged to make R500m available for the cause over the next three to five years.
“This humble donation will be channelled into two Motsepe Development Forums, one in Khayelitsha and the other in Mitchells Plain,” Motsepe said to roaring applause at the OR Tambo hall in Khayelitsha.
“The forums will be established by you (the community) and will be the vehicle to assist our young entrepreneurs, co-operatives, youth, religious organisations and, most importantly, our children through education. The funds will be used mainly to assist co-operatives with new business ventures.”
Motsepe Foundation staff, investment group Sanlam, banks FNB and Standard Bank and the Department of Trade and Industry would assist the two communities with the necessary support, Motsepe said.
“This forum must comprise of all the sectors in these communities, including NGOs.”
Motsepe, who has been named South Africa’s fourth- and Africa’s eighth-richest man by Forbes, said the government alone could not deal with the challenges facing people on the Cape Flats.
He said drug abuse, unemployment and crime had led to a sense of hopelessness.
“We can only change this if business, civil society and the government work together,” he said.
“The money that we will donate today must be spent within a year, between June 2013 and June 2014. I will come here once a year to speak to the forum members. Whatever the forums invest in must be profitable. We don’t want the money to sit in the bank while people remain unemployed.”
The Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town have welcomed the donation.
Finance, Economic Development and Tourism MEC Alan Winde said any private sector investment into start-up businesses and programmes for the youth was “a step in the right direction”.
He said his department would assist with the forums where possible.
ANC provincial chairman and Deputy International Relations Minister Marius Fransman said Motsepe’s donation was “exactly what the National Development Plan speaks to”.
“It speaks about true partnerships between the government, business and civil society to uplift our communities.”
Mayor Patricia de Lille said Motsepe had taken the meaning of ubuntu to “new heights”.
Forum members will be selected by registered community organisations, NGOs and religious leaders at a meeting that will be facilitated by the Motsepe Foundation next month.
Cape Argus