Although many individuals made important contributions to the development of the organisation, the two who defined Kagiso Trust as the leading development agency were Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Dr Beyers Naudé, both of them deeply committed to a non-racial society and the need for a peaceful transition to democracy.

They both recognised that development was at the heart of the project and development became the key aim and objective of the Trust. Their value systems became an integral part of the way Kagiso Trust and its investment company, Kagiso Trust Investments, do business.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, born in Klerksdorp, initially trained as a teacher, then studied theology. Ordained in 1960, he furthered his studies in England, graduating with a Master’s degree. In 1975 he became the first black Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral, Johannesburg. From 1976 to 1978 he was Bishop of Lesotho and, in 1978, became the first black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. Tutu’s dream was to see “a democratic and just society without racial divisions”, civil rights for all, the abolition of the pass laws and a common system of education. His support for sanctions helped legitimise the campaign, which ultimately led to the dismantling of apartheid. In 1984 Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In the same year he became the first black Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg and, in1986, was elevated to Archbishop of Cape Town. In the lead-up to the general election of 1989 Tutu engaged in a nationwide defiance campaign which, ultimately, led to banned political organisations being legitimised and to the release of political prisoners. In 1995 Tutu was appointed chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He retired as Archbishop of Cape Town in 1996.

Reverend Beyers Naudé

Beyers Naudé was born in Roodepoort, the son of a founding member of the Afrikaner Broederbond. He studied theology at the University of Stellenbosch and completed a Master’s degree in languages. As a minister in the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK), he began to doubt the religious justification for apartheid after witnessing the destruction of black family life under the South African migrant labour system. In1963 he resigned from both his church post and the Broederbond. He went on to edit an ecumenical magazine, Pro Veritate, which opposed apartheid, and, in 1963, became director of the newly formed Christian Institute and an underground supporter of the anti-apartheid movement. In 1977 Pro Veritate, the Christian Institute and Beyers Naudé were all banned. Unbanned in 1984 Naudé succeeded Archbishop Tutu as General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. He was a member of the African National Congress delegation during the negotiations in the early 1990s with the National Party government which led to the transition to democracy. On his death, in 2004, he was honoured with a state funeral.

Dr. Max Coleman

Dr. Max Coleman, a founding trustee, and now a patron of Kagiso Trust, founded the Detainees Parent Support Committee (DPSC) after the detention in 1981 of his son, Keith, and the death in detention of trade unionist Neil Aggett. In 1985, when the first State of Emergency was declared and tens of thousands of activists were detained without trial, the DPSC extended its activities to 40 advice offices around the country and Coleman sold his business to focus full time on political activities and the running of the DPSC. He was elected in 1994 as an ANC member of Parliament and was a founder member of the Human Rights Commission.

Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa

Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, a Catholic priest and former Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, was a leading anti-apartheid activist. Arrested under the Internal Security Act after the Soweto uprising of 1976 he was detained for four months. In 1977 he was served with a five-year banning order, which restricted him to the Pretoria magisterial district. A member of the African National Congress, he served as Executive Mayor of Tshwane.

Dr. Abe Nkomo

Dr.Abe Nkomo, a medical doctor and recipient of the Nelson Mandela Health Award in 1999, has long been an active community leader in the field of health, with, more recently, a particular focus on HIV/AIDS. He founded an all-party group on AIDS and drafted an AIDS pledge for members of Parliament. As an ANC MP and Chairperson of the Health Portfolio, he helped to ensure implementation of the public health reform process in South Africa.

Prof. Jakes Gerwel

Professor Gert Johannes (“Jakes”) Gerwel, one of South Africa’s leading educationists, received his primary education at a church-based farm school. He went on to graduate with a Doctor of Literature and Philosophy (magna cum laude) at the Vrije Universiteit te Brussel. An internationally recognised academic, he has been honoured by several universities in South Africa and abroad and received the Order of the Southern Cross (gold) from then-President Nelson Mandela. The former rector of the University of the Western Cape, he is currently Chairman of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Chancellor of Rhodes University. In the early days of South Africa’s democracy Gerwel was Director General in the office of President Mandela and Secretary to the Cabinet of South Africa’s first democratically elected government.

Allan Boesak

Allan Boesak was ordained as a priest at the age of 23 and completed a doctorate on ethics at the Kampen Theological Institute in Holland. In 1981he was elected chairman of the Alliance of Black Reformed Christians in Southern Africa, which rejected both the use of religion as a cultural or racist ideology and its separation from political activism. Boesak was instrumental in the adoption by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches of a Declaration on Racism and was elected president of the Alliance. His suggestion in 1983 that all groups opposed to the new South African constitution, which established a tricameral Parliament, should unite resulted in the formation of the United Democratic Front. After the 1994 election Boesak became president of the Association of Christian Students in South Africa and founded the Foundation for Peace and Justice in Bellville.