WeeklySA_AdminTower: Streetwise ‘Kasie Ou’ who graduated from the school of hard knocks
By Staff Reporter
Business leader Jabu Mabuza, who passed away on June 16 due to Covid-19 complications, was a true cadre and patriot who has left a monumental legacy in this country. These are the words of Mr Xolani Qubeka, executive chairman of the Small Business Development Institute, describing “a friend and brother” with whom he had travelled a long way – since the late 1980s – to work towards building various business structures to address the apartheid legacy.63
Mabuza (63) was the former chairman of Eskom and Telkom, having started his activism in the world of business in the Southern African Black Taxi Association, by virtue of being a taxi owner, and later Foundation for African Business and Consumer Services (Fabcos) in 1988. Owing to his intellect and drive, he would later rise to the bigger business stage years later when he became the president of Business Unity South Africa in post-apartheid South Africa, an umbrella organisation that brought together a string of black and white chamber of commerce.
“He was streetwise and smart,” Qubeka said. “We clicked the first time we met way back in 1988, and have since worked together in various business initiatives.”
He said, though Mabuza never had a degree, he graduated from “the university of hard knocks, was acutely intelligent, straightforward, a strategist and visionary. During our journey, we were able to do what was very difficult to do. We were able to start Future Bank with Wesbank, to finance the taxi industry. He created Afgen (with long-time friend Khehla Mthembu) to insure taxis and also got involved in a number of businesses”. Mabuza loved his wife and children dearly. “He was a true cadre and true African. He leaves a monumental memory which is part of this country. He was a colossal man,” Qubeka said.
It was symbolic that Mabuza passed away on June 16, a day widely commemorated in remembrance of the student uprisings that started in Soweto. On the very day 45 years ago, a young Mabuza joined thousands of black youths who demanded the end of Bantu education.
Mourning the business leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Mabuza championed black economic participation and inclusive growth through his leadership of Business Leadership South Africa and Business Unity South Africa.
“Jabu Mabuza was a monumental figure on so many terrains of our national life,” Ramaphosa said. A family statement said Mabuza was later expelled from school “for participating in that seminal protest that exposed the brutality of the apartheid regime and propelled the struggle for liberation”.
The family said “he lived his life so beautifully and committed to the transformation of South Africa’s economy; was a a pillar of strength for his family, a dedicated servant of the country, an activist in empowering black entrepreneurs and committed to work for the transformation of corporate SA”.
In 2017, Mabuza was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Commerce degree by the University of Witwatersrand in recognition of his entrepreneurship achievements and his contribution to the South African economy. He was also the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from Ernst & Young in their World Entrepreneur Awards.
Wits University joined the country in mourning the passing of distinguished business leader, adding that – in his address to Wits graduands – criticised the growing patronage approach that is hampering service delivery in South Africa.
He also told the graduands: “Care about people and uphold the old-fashioned values, of ‘please’, ’I am sorry’, and ‘thanks’ as these are magic words in the journey of life”.
