It is disconcerting, even at the best of times, to be called “ma’am”. Coming from someone such as Mamphela Ramphele, it’s downright humbling. But when I phone her for our interview, she replies to my “Hi, Mamphela?” with a “Yes, ma’am!”
Ramphele’s CV can be summed up as daunting. After qualifying as a doctor in 1972, she established community health programmes for the poor and underprivileged. With her partner, Steve Biko, she helped formulate the Black Consciousness ideology and was banished by the apartheid regime as a civil rights activist to Tzaneen for several years. She also found time to complete a PhD in social anthropology and a BCom. In the 1990s she became the first black vice-chancellor of the traditionally white University of Cape Town (UCT). From there, she was appointed MD of the World Bank. Her honorary degrees and awards are too numerous to name.
Now she is the chair of Circle Capital and sits on the boards of Medi-Clinic, Anglo American, MTN, Business Partners and Standard Bank. “My son invited me to chair his company,” she says, explaining her involvement in Circle, which has her son, Hlumelelo Biko, as its CE. The company is invested in healthcare, technology and financial services.
“I’m the executive chair, so I’m very hands-on at a strategy level, and at the level of risk monitoring, identifying risks, managing risks.”
Where Circle’s investments are in fields directly related to her expertise, such as healthcare, she plays a greater role. “Like our involvement with Medi-Clinic.” Circle owns 11% of Medi-Clinic with Phodiso Holdings.
“We look at business models and see where we can add value. Sometimes all it takes is a different perspective to identify opportunities for growth. Like, for instance, Nashua was limited by having a focus on traditional business. It doubled turnover by meeting the needs of the emerging sector.”
One of Circle’s investments is in a company that installs security cameras in city centres. “We have ears that traditional white communities don’t have. We identified additional security risks and opportunities.”
Can this idealist, who has spent so many years solving the world’s socio-economic problems, really be content with the business sphere?
“Without growing the wealth of the country, there won’t be money for [Finance Minister] Trevor Manuel to allocate to health, education, job creation,” she says. “We now have a basket filled with harvest fruits and we need to allocate resources. But we do not have the skills to implement our excellent policies. I am part of the wealth-creating process, but I am also interested in how we can support the public sector to implement policies.”
She is passionate about skills development. “The one weakness, not just in the private sector, but across the country, is that there is too little emphasis on investing in people to drive economic growth. There is a lot that companies can do to invest in people. There has been a deliberate neglect when it comes to investing in black people. By being on boards such as Medi-Clinic and Anglo, I make this point over and over.”
She praises Medi-Clinic’s nurse training programme, which selects “not just good academics, but their attitude must be right”.
Circle has donated R5million to UCT to fund the Steve Biko Leadership Fellowship Programme. The first fellows will be enrolling next year. “The focus must be on how [students] can exemplify the spirit of Biko, to engage in the challenges of society and the opportunities there are for transformation,” says Ramphele.
“There can be no transformation in the country if there is no transformation at the economic level. Political freedom without economic transformation is empty. It’s meaningless. We’ve got to make sure that transformation has meaning for ordinary South Africans.”
Though she stopped practising as a doctor “many donkeys’ years ago”, healthcare and poverty alleviation are still concerns. “I practised for 14 years, and I reached the limit of what could be done in a face-to-face setting. My work as a researcher looking at poverty in South Africa is still relevant. That’s the sad part. Now what’s needed are socio-economic interventions.”
With so much experience in social development, why didn’t she go into government? A throaty laugh. “There are different skills and talents. Some people are really well suited to government. And in this country, you need to belong to a political party. I’ve never been a member of a political party, though I do support the thrust of government’s programmes. I believe in the policies they’re pushing. My strength is as a background person, supporting behind the scenes, being a sounding board. I have no political ambitions whatsoever.”
What does the future hold for Ramphele? She laughs again. “I’m looking at Camps Bay beach right now. In a few years, I hope to be lying on that beach, doing some writing and reflection. I’ve got a book on my computer, reflecting on the transition, how we’ve handled it, what some of the missing links are.”