The improved resources, especially financial resources, which have become available to people from previously marginalised communities need to be used creatively so that more people can benefit. In the same way that the struggle against illegitimate political domination was championed by its victims, the fight against poverty will have to be driven by its victims.

Failure by communities to invest their newfound resources, scarce as they still are, in programmes that enhance their knowledge wealth will result in their failure to take advantage of the opportunities provided by our democracy. And that will also mean failure to define their own identities and determine their own destinies.

No community will be able to graduate to the stage of producing new knowledge, which is necessary, unless its own access to and mastery of the existing knowledge is up to standard. Communities and societies that fail to advance in terms of knowledge are invariably held hostage by those that do, irrespective of whether this is admitted or not. They also fall prey to charlatans within and outside of themselves, who occupy the grey area between knowledge and ignorance. Many of us have very little chance of producing new knowledge in our lifetimes, but we can play a very important role in improving other people’s access to relevant existing knowledge. Poor access to knowledge creates poverty where it does not exist and exacerbates it where it already exists. It was the famed German philosopher, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who told us that what is not fully understood is not fully possessed.

The difficulties that are presented by the operating environments in many communities should not prevent us from remembering that many people have made ultimate sacrifices for the chance we have to improve our lives and those of our compatriots. Another vital point to be made here is that availability of resources alone does not guarantee success. My journeys to various parts of the country brought me into contact with many different communities, including those in which reasonable resources are present, but for various reasons, remain largely underutilized.

There is no doubt that we require massive amounts in financial backing to run developmental projects. However, financial backing alone will not be enough to help struggling communities. A culture of respect, discipline, sacrifice, co-operation, life long learning and plain hard work still has to be created and maintained. And that process requires managers and leaders to drive as we advance.

History will judge us harshly if we squander the opportunities democracy has granted us. There is absolutely nothing wrong with previously disempowered people taking advantage of current economic conditions to gain access to material prosperity. In fact, working hard without showing material progress in your standard of living would be tantamount to slavery. The great people of our country and others fought and defeated that.

However, we must take deliberate steps to mix material prosperity with good doses of strategic investments in our communities where developmental projects are sorely needed. We must make time to mentor and nurture talents in the communities instead of wasting time chasing after the illusory dreams of naked materialism and consumerism. We must mentor and develop talent so that the community projects we initiate can one day become viable operations run by the very people we train. We must make time to create real and lasting value together with our people. A Sunday newspaper not a very long time ago reported the doyen of the moneyed, Patrice Motsepe, as having said these instructive words:” From a business perspective, it is a disaster. But emotionally, when I see supporters leave the stadium happy, I become very happy too. I know it’s money down the drain because I will never get it back, but there is more to life than money.”

There can hardly be a more appropriate authority to offer advice on the subject.

By Gibson Sakong
Executive Chairman of Montshepetja Academy