KING LERUO MOLOTLEGI 36th Ruler of the Royal Bafokeng Nation

as the 36th King of the Bafokeng Nation (RBN) and the 15th direct descendent of a long lineage of monarchs, King Leruo Molotlegi is a Director of Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH), President of the Mineral Rights Association of Indigenous People of South Africa, and a key negotiator in the new mining legislation directed at fostering black participation. Here he sheds light on education and the future development of the RBN.

What should members of the international community know about the RBN?
We are a traditionally governed community with a global outlook. We value our heritage and culture but do not see that as an obstacle to forging ahead in a globalized world. Our values center on respect for humanity, but we are risk takers who believe in world-class standards and doing what it takes to achieve them.

How do you define your community’s role within South Africa?
Both the international and the South African community find it difficult to understand what the RBN represents as a legal, political, economic and social entity. But as Bafokeng, we are South Africans and we must go out there and define our identity and mission in our own terms, and people who wish to engage with us will simply have to accept and understand us.

What is the RBN doing in terms of education?
We are launching an institute dedicated to developing human resources. Our challenges in education are related to poverty and unemployment. We provide scholarships so that young people can attend university, but we recognize a need to mentor them better as well. We hope to inculcate a new culture of learning to ultimately break the cycle of poverty.

What is the level of collaboration with your partners in developing the nation?
Our non-mining investments have a greater level of participation in community development than the mines. Problems have come about as a result of mining such as a lack of services, housing, water, health etc., and the mines say their job is to mine, not to fix problems. We believe it has to be holistic, and they are gradually beginning to come on board. With other companies, our primary goal is to see a return on investment, but we also want to build skills with these companies. For example, we own part of Astrapak which makes plastic containers. Our plan is that if the Bafokeng invest in Astrapak, they should provide money for bursaries to train our people in plastic engineering. We also asked them to set aside money for youth programs and training.

‘We hope to create an enabling environment for our people to take care of themselves’

What were the main drivers behind the creation of Royal Bafokeng Finance, the RBN’s financial department?
If you take our assets portfolio a year ago, 80 percent was mining and 20 percent was cash. We had to diversify so if platinum markets crashed, we would have sources of income to sustain development. Now we are looking at financial services and technology because we feel that there is growth potential, and it’s around those sectors that we are building skills sets.

How do you plan to become interdependent with Vision 2020?
We want to be economically sustainable but this transformation is reinforced by our philosophy and educational goals. Being economically viable in the long run means being able to plug into the regional and national economy in significant ways, and also developing a vibrant small business community. Our people have the ideas and drive but not always the skills or access. By thinking about education in conjunction with small business development, as well as health and physical infrastructure, we hope to create an enabling environment for our people to take care of themselves and get out of this mindset of entitlement without the requisite knowledge sets