Eric Molobi: Eric Molobi, who has died aged 58, was an unlikely revolutionary. Small and quietly spoken, he became relatively wealthy, having built up one of the most successful black-owned companies in South Africa.
But he spent much of his youth as a political prisoner on Robben Island, and his firm was regarded as pioneering because its main aim was the creation of funds for projects that benefited poor people.
Molobi was born in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, but moved to Soweto at the age of seven. When he finished school, he began working as a radio technician in the electronics company where his father was a driver. He was the only black technician in a team of 18, and every so often the foreman would tell him to make himself scarce for the day to avoid being spotted by a visiting inspector. It was only when he called at the local trade union offices that Molobi discovered it was illegal to employ black people in a skilled capacity. In the eyes of the law, all black people were labourers. After meeting members of the banned ANC in Botswana, an offence under the South African Terrorism Act, he was detained and tortured by the security police and sentenced to 11 years on Robben Island.
Molobi was released in 1982, when the campaign for trade sanctions against South Africa was at its peak. But with Ronald Reagan in the White House and Margaret Thatcher in Downing Street, all-out sanctions were not put in place. Instead, the European Commission compromised by setting up the Kagiso (or peace) Trust to fund black South Africans. Archbishop Desmond Tutu and another prominent anti-apartheid cleric, Beyers Naude, were appointed trustees in the hope that churchmen would ensure that the money was properly used, and Molobi became administrator, presiding over the disbursement of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
While Kagiso was meant to be apolitical, it ended up funding large numbers of anti-apartheid organisations. Most of the money went into bursaries for black students, and rural development and housing projects.
In 1990, when it was clear that South Africa was moving towards democracy, the commission told Molobi it would no longer fund Kagiso. Future aid would be channelled through the new government. Molobi was devastated at the prospect of having to lay off his staff and, more importantly, having to close down the trust-funded projects.
In 1993 he co-founded, and later became chief executive of, Kagiso Trust Investments (KTI), a company 55 per cent owned by the Kagiso Trust. The motivation was to generate funds for the trust, and Tutu and Naude remained trustees, setting a high moral tone for the new company. It was not allowed to invest in casinos or any organisation that harmed people or nature, and could only deal with companies that employed and promoted a substantial number of black people. Ten years on, KTI has become one of South Africa's biggest investment companies, providing a steady stream of income to Kagiso Trust projects.
Molobi remained unassuming and generous-spirited. After 1994, when it became legal for black people to live in previously whites-only suburbs, he and his wife, Martha, bought a house in the modest Johannesburg district of Observatory. They were appalled by the coldness of the still predominantly white areas, where families remained sealed off by high security walls. This was very different from the communality of the townships. Molobi organised a party and went from door to door, inviting the entire neighbourhood. Some came, he said, because the guests included ANC cabinet members, but many others became firm friends.
Martha survives her husband.
Eric Molobi, born June 5th, 1947; died June 4th, 2006