Introduction

Each of Kagiso Trust’s chief executive officers has played a critical role in the establishment and development of the organisation and has faced unique challenges.

1985 – 1991: Achmat Dangor

1992 – 1994: Eric Molobi

1995 – 1997: Horst Kleinschmidt

1997 – 2000: Thabiso Ratsomo

2000 – Current: Kgotso Schoeman

ACHMAT DANGOR

Achmat Dangor, founding Chief Executive of the Kagiso Trust, served from 1985 to 1991 and is currently CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which he joined in 2007. Prior to that he occupied a number of positions – Director of Advocacy, Communications and Leadership at UNAIDS, Interim Director of the World AIDS Campaign, and Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Mandela Rhodes Foundation. He is a writer who has published five works of fiction and poetry.

Achmat Dangor led the Trust during the difficult period of its establishment, setting up the administration and infrastructure, navigating the political and security challenges presented by the apartheid authorities, establishing and maintaining often clandestine communication with resistance organisations inside the country and abroad, and nurturing relationships with the international organisations that funded the Trust as well as with the local organisations that implemented its plans.

ERIC MOLOBI

Eric Molobi, who was CEO of Kagiso Trust from 1992 to 1994, co-founded Kagiso Trust Investments in 1994 and served as its executive chairperson from 1996. He chaired several companies within the wider Kagiso Group, was vice-chairperson of Imperial Holdings and chairperson of Telkom. He was also a director of Imperial Holdings, Metropolitan Holdings, the National Housing Finance Corporation, Northam Platinum, the Rembrandt Group, NM Rothschild and Sons (South Africa) and Steffen Robertson and Kirsten (South Africa). He was awarded the prestigious Ordre National de la Legion D’Honneur by the French government in 1994. Eric Molobi died of cancer on 5 June 2006, aged 58.

Eric Molobi consolidated the relationships established during Dangor’s tenure and managed the repositioning of the Trust while the political landscape was normalised and the focus of its programmes shifted to supporting institutional capacity building and the preparation for governance. He was instrumental in conceptualising and establishing the pioneering Kagsiso Trust Investments (KTI) to ensure the continued funding and sustainability of the Trust and its programmes beyond donor funding.

HORST KLEINSCHMIDT

Horst Kleinschmidt was Deputy Executive Director of Kagiso Trust from 1992 to 1994 and Executive Director from 1995 to 1997. His association with the Trust started in the 1970s, when he served as an assistant to Beyers Naudé at the Christian Institute. His passport was withdrawn by the government in 1973 and in 1975 he was detained under the Terrorism Act and held in solitary confinement for 73 days, after which he was released without charge. The following year he fled South Africa without a passport and was given political asylum in the Netherlands. He subsequently became head of the International Defence and Aid Fund in London, the body that financed many of the political trials in South Africa under apartheid.

Horst Kleinschmidt, as deputy CEO, was supportive in preparing the Trust to play a more active role as a development-funding agency. He was also instrumental in conceptualising and establishing KTI. He managed the critical and delicate re-alignment of the Trust’s structures, staffing, and programmes to meet the challenges of the new funding dispensation, to make it more efficient and businesslike and ensure its consolidation and sustainability.

THABISO RATSOMO

Thabiso Ratsomo was CEO of Kagiso Trust from 1997 to 2000. Prior to this he served as a Regional Director as well as the National Projects Director for the Trust. He is currently Head of Ministerial Services in the Ministry of Defence. Prior to joining the Ministry, he was Chief Director: Governance in the Office of the Premier in Gauteng. Ratsomo has a long history of political activism including student activism in 1976 and a prison term on Robben Island during the early 1980s.

Thabiso Ratsomo oversaw the winding down of a number of projects that did not fit in with the Trust’s more focused developmental mandate. During his tenure the Trust completed its shift from a primarily funding focus to a more hands-on approach. Under his leadership the Trust also consolidated existing relationships and established partnerships with related NGOs, as well as government departments and agencies.

KGOTSO SCHOEMAN

Kgotso Schoeman, the current CEO, has been involved with Kagiso Trust since 1994, when he was a programme manager. He is responsible for managing the Trust’s relationships with the European Union, the Japanese Embassy, South Africa’s Department of Education, Synergos Foundation (based in the USA) and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, among others.  He is also responsible for the Trust’s budget, and manages 25 full-time staff members and more than 15 consultants. He has had considerable experience in project management, managing community participation and development processes, local economic programme development and SMME support and development – skills he uses daily in his current position.

Kgotso Schoeman has continued to ensure the relevance and sustainability of Kagiso Trust by further streamlining its programmes and activities. Under his stewardship the Trust has completed the transition from an arms-length funding organisation to a hands-on project and programme-driven agency. The emphasis on supporting education for development has been cemented by the establishment of the Beyers Naudé Schools Development Programme and the Eric Molobi Scholarship Programme. Financial sustainability is now assured thanks to partnerships developed with international funders, government, community and the private sector and the establishment of an endowment fund which will contribute resources beyond the dividends accrued from Kagiso Trust Investments.