Motsepe forum’s R4,5m funding goes unused

SOUTH African mining magnate, Patrice Motsepe is not happy with the progress of the Motsepe Development Forum (MDF) in the Mopani district, which he established last year in order to help the poor in the district.

This comes after he established that a huge chunk of the R6 million that he had given to the MDF in Mopani last year to assist in the form of bursaries and the funding of businesses, had not been used.

Speaking on Friday at the Giyani community hall where he had come to meet with the beneficiaries of his fund, Motsepe said only around R1,5 million had been used on bursaries for 20 students in the Mopani district, while the rest remained unused despite the high unemployment in the district.

“Approximately R4,5 million is still in the MDG’s account, and it should not be there considering the needs of this community. It should have been used to help our people get projects off the ground,” he said.

“The R6 million that we gave you through this development forum is very little if you look at it in relation to the big challenges of unemployment of our people,” he continued.

He said he would be happy if he came back next year and found businesses owned by women and young people who had benefitted from the fund. “I would like us to come up with projects or businesses which are owned by women and youth,” he said, giving a few examples of how MDF’s were assisting in other districts and provinces.

Motsepe added that poverty was so rife in the country that everybody needed to play a role in order to eradicate it. “Sometimes you find grandmothers who earn government grants using their grants to help others, which is a huge sacrifice to them,” he said.

“These grandmothers and many others like them are the ones who inspire us to say; make a humble contribution to the needy, because together we can really help those who are poor and give them a better life,” he said.

Floyd Maluleke, one of the 20 students who received a bursary from the foundation, said he was happy to have received it as it had rescued him from a life of poverty. “The bursary does more than many parents who have sent their children to universities can afford. It pays for everything, including accommodation and pocket money, which under normal circumstances would have been just a dream to me,” he said.

It was unclear exactly why the fund had been under-utilised, although it was ascertained that there had been a lack of applications made.