Wits University and the African Rainbow Minerals spearhead a research collaboration between the Mining and Education sectors in South Africa.
What we often view as philanthropic work serves as a runway for future generations, enabling them to lift off into unimaginable heights. It is the sowing of a good seed with the hopes and an expectation of a great harvest in days to come that’ll benefit all those within its proximity and otherwise. Recently, the African Rainbow Minerals founder and Executive Chairman, Dr. Patrice Motsepe displayed a great understanding of this when he, through his organisation, invested R 20 million into research at the University of the Witswatersrand’s faculty of Engineering and the Built environment.
The fruits of this investment are already sprouting through the historic name change of the Wits Chamber of Mines in Braamfontein, Johannesburg to the African Rainbow Minerals Building. The building houses the school of Mining Engineering, school of Electrical and Information Engineering and the multidisciplinary Wits Mining Institute among others. The building has used its former name since it first opened its doors 34 years ago, in 1989 and will now represent the positive possibilities of a public-private partnership within research intensive institutions of higher learning. The investment is aimed at addressing issues that are at the core of South Africa’s key challenges including energy shortages, the lack of skills in digitalisation and water scarcity which poses much of a bigger threat to the mining sector. The decrease in water supply makes obtaining sufficient quantities for mining processes difficult which subsequently leads to increased costs in securing water sources. This is juxtaposed to the same level of scarcity experienced by certain communities in our country. Solutions emanating from this research will benefit the people of South Africa and have a ripple effect into other sectors of our economy.
South Africa, as most know, is home to the largest platinum group metals (PGMs) reserves in the world. This fact alone makes our Mining industry a major contributor towards the economy. The partnership between Wits and African Rainbow Minerals comes at a crucial time in our continent where there is a great need for proper knowledge systems and academic leadership that’ll render innovative, multidisciplinary and multinational solutions to address the negative impacts such as climate change, the depletion of natural resources and the irreversible biosphere damage that are brought about by some of the technological advancements. The current growth rate of the African population will make our continent a centre of the Global South in years to come. This reality alone proves that groundbreaking solutions need to come from our region and that is exactly what this partnership seeks to achieve.
Dr. Patrice Motsepe, a Wits University alumnus and an honorary doctorate degree recipient, championed the partnership just a year after the University celebrated its centenary in 2022 and the launch of their strategic framework that is set to serve for the next decade between 2023 and 2033. The ARM Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme initiative is about creating a pipeline of future critical skills that will cater for future business and societal needs. If this is not active citizenship, then we don’t know what is. Let us all rally behind the support of initiatives that seek to uplift and improve the socio-economic landscape of South Africa.