Advancing Human Rights and Sustainable Philanthropy

Craig Featherby

South Africa recently celebrated Human Rights Day. This day certainly deserves celebration; also referred to as Heroes’ Day, the event ignited global awareness of the inhumanities of the apartheid regime and simultaneously signaled the start of a new era of democracy – moving forward with hope.

It is only fitting that reference to this day of commemoration instantly brings to mind Chris Bertish’s recent (seemingly impossible) achievement, aimed at raising 20 million ZAR for three life-changing South African charities: The Lunchbox Fund, Operation Smile SA and Signature of Hope Trust.

A true modern day hero, Chris completed the first ever solo, unsupported, transatlantic stand-up paddleboard (SUP) Crossing on 9 March, after spending 93 days surmounting the dangers of the open ocean. On 14 March, a motion was put before the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa to congratulate Chris and call on all South Africans to “Dream It, See It, Believe It, Achieve It” (Chris’s motto).

As proud title sponsor of The SUP Crossing, Chris and Carrick share a strong drive to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children in Southern Africa. Chris’ mental fortitude and determination resonate with the Carrick ethos – as leaders in wealth and capital management, Carrick Wealth is also driven by the values of integrity, transparency and courage even in the face of adversity. It is not surprising that upon meeting Chris just over a year ago at the company’s annual conference themed “Finding courage” that an official partnership was created and cemented.

“Knowing Chris, I’m convinced that he’ll be first to emphasise that while his accomplishments have been vast, he is an ordinary man whose extraordinary dreams have launched him into the public eye, all the result of his burning compassion for the plight of the helpless; his unbreakable spirit and belief in achieving against the odds; and most of all his unwavering courage and grit.”, explains Craig Featherby – CEO, Carrick Wealth

The wise words of the late South African president, hero and father of a nation, Nelson Mandela, inspire us all to strive for greatness: “Courage is not the absence of fear [but the triumph over it]; it is inspiring others to move beyond it”.

Against this background, it’s vital that we take a moment out of our busy schedules to reflect on the future of philanthropy. The term Philanthropy originates from the Greek term which directly translated means “love of mankind.” Philanthropy is an idea, event, or action that is done to better humanity and usually involves some sacrifice as opposed to being done for a profit motive.
In the world of philanthropy, it is relatively easy to donate a large sum of money to make an impact on one or more people’s lives as a once-off event. The much harder part, in fact, ten times harder, is to sustain the same impact into the future. While rejoicing in the excitement of Chris’ impressive feat, it hardly means our work is done; to the contrary, the hard, gritty work starts now. The SUP Crossing has created a solid platform and garnered important public awareness, yet needs to be sustained into the future, mobilising business leaders to continue boosting not just civic awareness but also civic engagement.

In answer to the need for sustainable sponsorship, The Signature of Hope Trust was initiated by four goal-driven achievers who all share the same vision of philanthropy (also directors of the Carrick Wealth Board).

Signature of Hope raises funds through personal and corporate donations: in cooperation with professional partners, the Trust will be building, equipping and administering schools in rural areas of South Africa to provide pre-school education. The Signature of Hope Trust, through Carrick Wealth, will invest the funds raised to support the work of Operation Smile, The Lunchbox Fund and future partners. The funds raised through the SUP Crossing will go into an annuity and the income from this annuity will be dispersed equally to the beneficiaries.

With rising deprivation, environmental stress and injustice all over the world, doing good and giving back to the community gives purpose to people, which is why I am encouraging fellow business leaders operating in the philanthropy space to join the discussion.

• Article crafted by Craig Featherby – CEO, Carrick Wealth

Donald Trump believes road tolls are ideal for infrastructure finance – so should South Africa

US President Donald Trump made a point in his inauguration speech to emphasise his election pledge to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure investment over 10 years. He has repeatedly promised to “rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools and hospitals”.

In his inauguration address, the Republican president said the nation’s infrastructure “has fallen into disrepair and decay”. Those words could just as easily have been applied to South Africa’s infrastructure, and that of many other countries. South Africa is not alone in facing an infrastructure backlog. Rapid wealth accumulation and assets such as cars, as well as a far more mobile population, in many countries means their infrastructure is as inadequate as ours.

Corporate South Africa is currently flush cash, sitting on more than R725 billion balance sheet cash. It’s obvious South Africa Inc is on a long-term investment strike – at home, at least. It’s possible Trump could be the key to unlocking these corporate balance sheets. It is evident that business will be prepared to invest in the local economy where incentives are in place to overcome other concerns. We already have templates of successful Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) in several sectors of the economy. In the renewable energy and toll road sectors, regulations exist. Car manufacturing companies also invest due to well thought out policy and predictable incentive packages. These examples create many jobs and stimulate the economy at negligible cost to government. It needs to be rolled out to many more sectors, starting with accelerated toll road building.

The South African government could take a leaf from Trump’s book – he has agreed to a policy that provides tax credits or tolls on new roads. The US plan in its current rough form would seek to incentivise the private sector to increase investment in infrastructure projects on the basis of tax credits and future usage fees, such as road tolls. As a result, US governors have already flagged 300 high-priority projects that are ready to proceed ‘today’.

In the US there is a full consensus that there are infrastructure problems in the US. We could do well to follow policy leads from some of these countries. There is already a full consensus in South Africa. There is also the capital on South Africa Inc’s balance sheet.

To kickstart South Africa’s own infrastructure roll-out would simply require a change of heart by government as to the level of private participation. For instance, Trump’s policy aims to essentially sidestep political squabbles by focusing mostly on private investment. Here is a policy choice that South Africa could immediately follow for quick results.

Trump is not the only leader looking to stimulate infrastructure development through the private sector: Germany, India and Chile are also looking at private sector participation in their road systems. Tolls generate sufficient cash flow to develop the infrastructure more efficiently.

 By Thandokazi on May 09, 2017 09:39 am

By Graeme Blewitt, Chief Executive Officer, Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concessionaire

MAN RAPES PREGNANT DOG!

Dog rape in South Africa, does not end. On Monday May 8, a local South African newspaper Daily Sun published a story about a man raping a pregnant dog.   Here is the story.

NOMHLE Punguzwa’s dog was very popular ekasi, but little did she know that her neighbour had evil thoughts about her pet. 

On Saturday morning, the 37-year-old from Joe Slovo in Port Elizabeth was horrified when her pregnant dog was allegedly raped! 

She told Daily Sun: “At 7am, a neighbour woke me up after seeing my neighbour taking my dog into his house.” 

Nomhle said she rushed to the house fearing the suspect was going to kill her pet.
“We knocked at his door but he didn’t open. We waited for over 30 minutes before I went to fetch my uncle. Soon other neighbours were also on the scene,” she said. 

“We entered his house and I saw my dog escaping through the fence. Her privates were bleeding and she was crying in pain. We decided to call the cops.” 

When police arrived with the SPCA, they found blood stains on the floor and arrested the neighbour. “The SPCA took my dog for treatment and confiscated his own dog.” 

Nomhle said the man destroyed the love she had for her dog. 

“She was like my baby. People adored her. She was pregnant when this evil man raped her,” she said.
“I hope the SPCA keeps my dog because I’m traumatised. I can’t live with her anymore because I constantly will be reminded of what happened to her.”

The suspect was taken to Kwadwesi Police Station. At the time of going to print, the officers’ phones were switched off.    Here is the link to the source again.

In the post we have posted several articles about animal abuse including dog rape.   Here is one of the old ones. 

Dog rape in South Africa - the endless horror of abuse

Dog Rape and Animal Abuse in South Africa

Abused white woman in death has found her peace

Many of my friends will remember Natasha, the young girl who had her leg amputated about two years ago.  About five weeks ago Natasha became very ill, and her mother took her to the hospital.  Since being there, she deteriorated, and today, her mother told me she has died. 

I knew Natasha for many years, and all through the traumatic and happy times, she remained a young woman seeking to walk in the light. Today, I believe that she is finally in the light, and in death has found her peace.

You can read Natasha's story - 

Abused white woman urgently needs help

 

South Africa needs moral leaders, not those in pursuit of selfish gain

South Africa has seen a great deal of progress in many spheres of life since non-racial democracy in 1994, yet many of its people are still waiting for their hard-won freedom to pay dividends. Economic freedom still eludes them.

Unemployment is stubbornly high and the redistribution of wealth and land hasn’t been successful. It seems that the country’s leaders have hijacked this freedom in pursuit of their own selfish gains.

Politically exposed people, public officials and cronies in the private sector abuse their contacts, positions and influence unashamedly. Social pathologies such as rampant corruption and state looting are the order of the day. The cult of materialism is destroying the moral fibre of the nation.

What the country needs now is moral leadership that brings deep and lifelong changes to individuals and communities. It urgently needs leadership born of sound core values and characterised by accountable management.

There are fortunately well established models that set out what the characteristics of this kind of leadership are. South Africans should draw on these so that they know what it is that makes up moral leadership traits.

The four key-drives theory

The late Harvard Business School Professor Paul Lawrence says that all animals survive guided by two innate drives, or ultimate motives: firstly to acquire essential resources and offspring; secondly to defend themselves and their property.

Humans have evolved to require two additional drives – to bond in trusting, caring, long-term relationships and the drive to comprehend – that is to learn, understand and create.

According to Lawrence, good moral leaders hold these four drives in dynamic balance, weighing and balancing conflicting demands.

He states that the four drives, when expressed as nouns rather than verbs, yield four important core values: prosperity (resources), peace/trust (bond), knowledge (comprehend), and justice (defend). Just as with the drives, the best leaders attend to all four values simultaneously.

Prosperity seeks to improve every citizen’s ability to obtain the necessary resources. Leaders honestly ask what other people are entitled to, and then promote it at all cost. This asks restraint and self-sacrifice, simplicity and contentment. Greedy and power-hungry leaders, who only focus on their own success and enrichment, are in the light of the four key-drives theory, primitive and destructive.

A deviation from this was seen when Brian Molefe, former CEO at Eskom, almost walked away with a R30.1 million “golden handshake” even though he was at the power utility for only 18 months. This, after he resigned as CEO in November 2016 under a cloud after being fingered in former public protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela’s “State of Capture” report. He is now an MP of the governing ANC.

Justice-based leadership keeps the other person safe, as well as his loved ones and property, protects their names, and preserves their integrity. This kind of leadership tracks fraudsters and criminals and punishes them unashamedly. It doesn’t put a veil over injustice.

And justice is never prioritised in a leader’s interest and or survival. One cannot defend the indefensible. But, in October 2016 South Africa started the process to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) - an institution designed to hold war criminals to account, and to deliver justice for their victims.

Protesters outside the offices of fired finance minister Pravin Gordhan in Pretoria.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko

The move was a direct result of the government’s failure in 2015 to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir as required by the ICC and the country’s laws. But justice triumphed in the end. Earlier this year the government found itself with egg on its face when the Pretoria High Court declared SA’s withdrawal from the ICC unconstitutional and invalid.

Trust that is essential to caring and social cohesion, keeps promises and doesn’t cheat. It acts with respect, honour and recognition, which in turn are important elements for peace, reliability and stability. This asks tremendous courage, because one is often on one’s own, threatened, bullied and even reviled.

Barbara Hogan, anti-apartheid activist, former minister and the widow of struggle veteran Ahmed Kathrada exhibited these qualities when she courageously called Zuma to go. She reiterated Kathrada’s call to Zuma to step down for the good of all South Africans.

Knowledge and expertise to understand one’s world, place and role in it is extremely important. It is to know the importance of speaking truth and acting with integrity. It doesn’t withhold, but discloses. It doesn’t mock, but respects. It doesn’t intimidate, but inspires. It doesn’t manipulate, but motivates. It doesn’t bully, but protects. The larger the island of knowledge and expertise, the longer the coastline of respect, trust and admiration.

But the abnormal has, in some respects, become normal in South Africa.

That’s why parliament continued to maintain that nothing different was done at the state of the nation address earlier this year even when armed soldiers were photographed strategically blocking off areas in the parliamentary precinct, a move criticised as unseemly militarisation of parliament. And, footage clearly showed journalists being impeded despite parliament’s official assurances over several days that this would not happen.

The need for role models

What South Africa needs are ethical leaders modelling core values, in line with these innate key-drivers. Leaders who have the ability to honestly deal with their own weaknesses. This is not an option, but a national imperative.

Fortunately, there are examples South Africans can turn to. Take Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng’s historic judgment last year in the Nkandla case involving the illegal use of millions of public money for upgrades to President Jacob Zuma’s private homestead. Justice Mogoeng said Zuma had breached his constitutional duty by ignoring the Public Protector’s remedial action. Mogoeng’s behaviour displayed high ethical value.

At the moment South Africa is paying a very high price for the lack of moral leadership. This is true in relation to its economy, politics, education, social security, service delivery, and health services because certain influential politicians got stuck in a twisted first drive of self-enrichment – and bling.

Chris Jones, Academic project leader in the Department of Practical Theology and Missiology, Stellenbosch University

This article was originally published on The Conversation.