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MINING billionaire Patrice Motsepe has announced he will give half his family’s fortune to charity, becoming the first African to match a pledge made by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
The Soweto-born tycoon, worth an estimated $2.59 billion, announced he would join the Giving Pledge, which challenges the world’s wealthiest to give at least 50 per cent of their fortune to charity.
“The need and challenges are great,” Motsepe said in a statement, pledging to give away “at least half of the funds generated by our family.”
A close aide told AFP it was difficult to put a figure on the amount that would be donated, but it would be “half of all his wealth, both current and future. There’s no period. This will go on into perpetuity.”
The money, Motsepe said, would be used to help “poor and other disadvantaged and marginalised South Africans.”
“We hope that our Giving Pledge will encourage others in South Africa and other emerging economies to give and make the world a better place.”
The 51-year-old made his billions through black empowerment deals, designed to redress white economic dominance that stemmed from apartheid laws.
He founded and owns mining company African Rainbow Minerals (ARB) and is Africa’s eighth richest person according to Forbes magazine.
ARB earned $390 million in the last six months of 2012, from its extensive gold, platinum, iron ore and coal operations in South Africa and copper interests in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He also owns Pretoria-based football club Mamelodi Sundowns.
Since Microsoft mogul Gates and investment guru Buffett launched the Pledge in 2010, more than 70 billionaires have joined.
Motsepe thanked Buffett and Gates personally for their encouragement during separate meetings last year, which influenced his decision.
