Great wealth and philanthropy
From Tony Meehan, Cape Town
In the front-page leading article, “Giving back to society now” (June 26), Archbishop William Slattery states that “morality and ethics must be part of the economy of South Africa and Catholic social teaching in business is ‘vitally important’,” and calls for successful businessmen and women to give back to society.
Croesus, king of Lydia with St Michael by Johann Georg Platzer. The expression ‘as rich as Croesus’ is used today to mean fabulously rich. Billionaire Patrice Motsepe has been lauded by the Church for his contribution to upliftment and development projects.
The report continues to laud and applaud Patrice Motsepe for his commitment to donate R120 million for sustainable development and upliftment projects in various communities.
Although Mr Motsepe’s wealth is estimated to be R24 billion, R120 million is a large sum of money. However, to put this into context, simple arithmetic calculates this figure to reflect a percentage of his gross wealth to be 0,5%. I remember when 10% of one’s earnings was considered reasonable.
The article also tells of Mr Motsepe learning his business skills by working in his father’s spaza shop before going on to study law. This is commendable. More so, to then go out and earn a figure of R24 billion must be seen as a great achievement.
Once again, simple arithmetic can be used to calculate the general accumulation of such wealth. If you had to work for eight hours a day, 12 months a year, you would need to earn R40 million a month for 50 years to reach R24 billion. The mind boggles.
Having said all of the above, one wonders where the Church’s recently introduced deadly sin of “obscene and/or excessive wealth” features in such cases?
Archbishop Slattery says that Mr Motsepe “is an excellent example of what Catholic businessmen should be doing”.
In spite of accruing such “obscene” wealth, he is reported to be planning to donate R12 billion to a campaign to encourage the wealthiest people in the world to make a commitment to give most of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
This generosity of his should certainly not go unrewarded or unappreciated.
However, having parted with such a vast sum of money, would the Church regard the leftover amount of R12 billion as no longer being “obscene” or “excessive”; and would it be cynical to suggest that a plenary indulgence may apply in such cases of committing one of the “new” deadly sins?
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