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South Africa currently has 98 billionaires - the most in Africa. Many of the world’s megawealthy, including Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, who founded The Giving Pledge, donate millions every year to charities in the hope of making a difference in our increasingly unequal world.
Here’s a look at how South Africa’s top 10 billionaires are giving back:
1. Ivan Glasenberg – CEO of Glencore, which is is an Anglo–Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company: There is no available data about his personal giving.
2. Christo Wiese - former chairman and largest shareholder of Steinhoff International: Wiese assists communities and families in buying the title deeds for the land on which they have been living for many years. He is also a sponsor for the Free Market Foundation, which works with FNB to give people land tenure. Wiese believes his cause will ensure young people have a roof over their heads when their grandparents or great-grandparents pass away. Wiese declined to specify how much he donates to the cause.
3. Patrice Motsepe - executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals and deputy chairman of Sanlam: Motsepe set the standard in 2103 when he became the first African to join The Giving Pledge initiative, which is a charity organisation founded by philanthropists Gates and Buffett. Motsepe gave away half his family’s fortune to the Motsepe Foundation, which he and his wife founded in 1999. At the time his net worth was estimated to be around R23.94 billion. The foundation supports 222 schools and churches, has given 1 800 bursaries to students from impoverished backgrounds and distributes toys to more than two million children in South Africa as part of their Christmas initiative. The foundation runs various other initiatives in women empowerment, nature conservation and health sector.
4. Lauritz Dippenaar - chairperson of FirstRand financial Group: Dippenaar gives away scholarships worth R800 000 each every year to students with outstanding academic and leadership track records. The FirstRand Laurie Dippenaar and Firstrand Foundation Scholarships are given so these students can pursue their postgraduate studies internationally. In addition, The Dippenaar family Trust has financially helped more than 350 Stellenbosch University students who would have otherwise dropped out due to lack of funding.
5. Ivan Saltzman - Chief executive of Dis-Chem: Saltzman established the Dis-Chem foundation in 2006. The foundation works with registered NGOs to support needy communities with food and shelter. It also helps vulnerable children and the elderly. Other projects it is involved in include the Smile Foundation.
6. Stephen Saad - chief executive of Aspen Pharmacare: Saad completed the 240km Aspen Trans Karoo mountain bike challenge in a bid to raise funds for paediatric health care. The proceeds support healthcare facilities for children in South African hospitals through the Sifiso Nxasana Paediatric Trust for the Children of Africa.
8. Johann Rupert - chairman of the Swiss-based luxury goods company Richemont: Rupert donates his entire year’s salary to charity every year. His donations are estimated to be in the region of around R40 million. Rupert also took over his brother’s conservation initiative called Peace Parks, which creates conservation areas and job opportunities for people across southern Africa.
9. John Whittaker - chairman of the Peel Group: Whittaker set up the The Parthenon Trust which donates money to charitable organisations. It supports organisations that support the disabled, the advancement of health services, and the prevention and relief of poverty. They operate in many European countries.
10. Michiel Scholtz du Preez le Roux - founder of Capitec Bank Limited: Le Roux established The Millennium Trust in 2010 as a non-profit organisation which funds AmaBungane, GroundUp and Corruption Watch. The trust focuses mainly on South Africa’s most pressing issues, such as education and jobs.
