WORLDVIEW: Dilemma of the super rich: Damned if you do, or don’t

By Alec Hogg.We all experience moments of having to make a split second decision – and agonising afterwards whether it was right. I've often mulled one that happened at Sun City in July. It came towards the end of the annual Insurance conference which I'd been facilitating..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Mohale Ralebitso, then CEO of the Black Business Council, had delivered an emotional speech about broader participation in the economy. Among the graphics was a table of the ten richest South Africans, all but one of whom (Patrice Motsepe) are white. It was used to show how a handful of men have accumulated an inordinate share of the national wealth and power..The assumption embedded in that table has morphed into a politically explosive refrain about "white monopoly capital". It subsequently hatched some misguided economic policy designed to redress the imbalance, including expanding a network of patronage with a plan of "creating" black billionaire industrialists with taxpayer funds..All of this from a myth built on flimsy foundations..While they all got their start in the country, the wealth of SA's super rich was mostly created outside its borders. Of those listed among the top 10, only the Oppenheimers and Ruperts are beneficiaries of generational endowments, but even here impact of their foreign business interests has been substantial..Pretty much all of Koos Bekker's wealth stems from an inspired investment in China's Tencent. Stephen Saad's from the globalisation of Aspen, the pharma company he started in Durban. Christo Wiese's came from Pepkor's global interests. And so on..What is far more relevant is that they are South African taxpayers so their offshore success has also delivered massive income benefit to their homeland's Fiscus. A more instructive table would be one showing the country's ten biggest taxpayers..Were I among the much-maligned super rich, showing off my direct contribution to Treasury is something I'd certainly consider. Then again, it's a case of damned if you do, or don't. Being transparent on your taxes is sure to introduce a new wave of criticism from the envious..That's why so many wealthy people invest heavily in staying under the public radar. Actively working on their anonymity – and staying away from interviews, public company directorships and, most obviously, those annual "rich lists"..These are aspects I'd liked to have debated with Ralebitso that fateful July afternoon. But decorum stopped me and nobody in the audience raised the points so the myth continues unchallenged. And in societies where their example results in envy rather than inspiration, those who make it big will prefer keeping their heads down. Mores the pity.

WORLDVIEW: Dilemma of the super rich: Damned if you do, or don’t

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