Alexander O'Riordan - Last week the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science held a two-day workshop on “Serious Social Investment” with respect to corporate social investment (CSI) in South Africa. The workshop, the fifth of its kind, focused on “initiating new conversations around the vision for South Africa and the benefits and value propositions for all involved in the CSI sector.” Clearly the organisers are calling for a clearer vision of the role of CSI in...
Are we at an inflection point in the development of capitalism? Can there be an intersection between business and values? Can capitalism be made to serve a just and equitable society? The traditional form of capitalism is to make money from a product or service in the marketplace. However, some business people contemplate that the real entrepreneurship is to figure out how the world is better off because of your product or service and bring that into the marketplace. The makers of the...
The Marikana massacre most certainly turned the spotlight on the women in mining communities by bringing into sharp focus the challenges facing the widows of the slain mineworkers. Fazila Farouk of SACSIS talks to Samantha Hargreaves of WoMin about the broader impact of mining on women in mining communities and learns about land grabs, water grabs and the health impacts of environmental degradation and water pollution, which create an additional burden for the women behind the...
Glenn Ashton - During the peak of the anti-apartheid disinvestment campaign the Anglo-American Corporation took full advantage of the situation and snapped up disinvesting companies. By the 1990's Anglo American controlled 85% of the companies and over 60% of the wealth of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, making it the biggest economic beneficiary of apartheid. Through its diversified holdings it controlled vast sectors of the economy. Besides mining it was involved in forestry, paper, retail, car...