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South Africa's First Black Billionaire Pledges To Donate Half His Wealth

Patrice Motsepe in 2010.
Getty Images
Patrice Motsepe in 2010.

If you were looking for good news, here's a bit of it from South Africa: Patrice Motsepe, the country's first black billionaire, announced today that he will donate half his fortune in order to help the poor.

Reuters reports:

"Mining magnate Motsepe, with assets estimated by Forbes magazine of $2.65 billion, said he is making the pledge to benefit the millions of South Africans who have seen little gain in their personal fortunes since white-minority rule ended in 1994.

"The Giving Pledge is a philanthropic initiative started by U.S. billionaire Warren Buffet along with Bill and Melinda Gates that has recruited nearly 100 billionaires, mostly Americans, who have pledged to donate the majority of their wealth to charity."

According to The Financial Times, Motsepe's wife, Precious, said that his wealth would be given away throughout his lifetime.

Motsepe, the Times adds, amassed his fortune as the chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, a mining company. He is South Africa's fourth richest man. The fifth, reports the Times, is his brother-in-law Cyril Ramaphosa.

There's no word whether Ramaphosa will join Buffet's Giving Pledge.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.
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