As Business Day Live reports the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust received an endowment of R1bn. According to Bobby Godsell, one of the trustees, the trust is now one of the largest and most prestigious public benefit organizations in South Africa.
Mary Slack, the chairwoman and a trustee of the trust and daughter of the late mining magnate Harry Oppenheimer, said the trust would develop a strategy next year and start spending the money.
“This is a large amount of money for the trust. Since my family sold its stake in De Beers, we have wanted to get more involved in spending on education,” Ms Slack said.
“In the past we put money into underprivileged schools and the like, but we have moved towards individuals,” Ms Slack said. “It just became quite expensive. Many private schools already have mixed demographics in terms of the people attending them now so we are looking to focus on furthering specific people more than groups.”