KUDUMANE CITY DEVELOPMENT VISION - FROM MINERAL WEALTH TO HUMAN WEALTH...

A PERSONAL DECLARATION AND CALL TO ACTION

Distinguished Stakeholders,

Members of the Community, Traditional Leadership, Representatives of Government, Business Leaders and Investors:

I humbly address you today not merely as a businessman presenting a commercial opportunity. I stand before you first and foremost as an indigene of this land—a son of Kudumane, a descendant of the people of this land and a person whose identity, history and future are inseparably connected to this place.

This vision is profoundly personal to me. My umbilical cord is buried here. This is my sacred place.

I have watched our land produce extraordinary mineral wealth while our communities have remained surrounded by unemployment, poverty, inadequate infrastructure and limited economic opportunity. Billions of Rands have been extracted from our soil in and around Kudumane. That wealth has built companies, enriched shareholders, strengthened mining conglomerates and created opportunities for many people beyond our region, in foreign land and across the oceans. Yet the communities living above this mineral wealth have not experienced development let alone benefits proportional to the value taken from beneath their feet.

This cannot be accepted as the permanent destiny of our people. It has been allowed to carry on for far too long and I am not about to allow a continuation of this bad practice to continue.

I do not raise this matter simply to blame government, mining companies, traditional institutions or any other stakeholder. I also fully accept personal responsibility. As a son of this land, I must accept that I, too, am among those who could have done more, spoken and acted more forcefully sooner. Better late than never. I cannot condemn the status quo while exempting myself from responsibility for allowing this rot to continue.

I have therefore taken a personal decision: I will no longer stand at a distance and watch Kudumane’s wealth leave while its future remains uncertain. I have therefore taken it upon myself to mobilise every lawful resource, relationship, institution, investor, professional and sphere of government necessary to help transform this region.

That commitment has given birth to the Kudumane City Development Vision.

Kudumane City is not conceived merely as a collection of impressive buildings. It is a generational programme to transform mineral wealth into human wealth—to use the economic strength created by mining today to establish industries, institutions and opportunities that can sustain our people long after the minerals have been depleted.

It is envisioned as a fully integrated economic, administrative, educational, industrial, residential, healthcare, transport, tourism, hospitality, sporting and cultural destination. It will bring together renewable energy, water and sanitation infrastructure, roads, public transport, an international airport, railway infrastructure, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, commercial and industrial precincts, housing, recreational destinations and internationally recognisable landmarks.

Based on its present scope and the infrastructure envisaged across its full implementation period, the development is preliminarily estimated to represent an investment of approximately R1 trillion. This is not a final construction budget. It is a concept-stage projection demonstrating the magnitude of the vision, the seriousness of our intentions and the scale of the partnerships that will be required.

No individual, company or institution can accomplish this alone. Kudumane City will require genuine partnerships involving Morahe, Our Traditional Authority, lawful landowners and rights-holders, Communal Property Associations where applicable, local communities, Ga-Segonyana Local Municipality, John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality, the Northern Cape Provincial Government, national government departments and regulatory bodies, mining companies, development-finance institutions, investors, universities, professionals, local businesses, entrepreneurs and civil-society organisations.

Every stakeholder whose rights, responsibilities or interests may be affected must be involved and consulted in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the Republic of South Africa. This development will not bypass traditional authority, community rights, lawful landholding structures, municipal planning powers, environmental responsibilities or governmental approval processes. It must be founded upon lawful consultation, informed community participation, transparent decision-making and accountable partnerships.

But consultation must not become an excuse for endless delay, and procedure must not become a hiding place for those who are comfortable with the status quo. We must respect every lawful process while moving with the urgency demanded by the condition of our people.

The Batlhaping people must never become spectators to development taking place on their ancestral land. They must be recognised as custodians, decision-making partners and beneficiaries. This project must create measurable and enforceable opportunities for local employment, education, training, enterprise development, procurement, investment, ownership and the protection of our cultural heritage.

Mining remains important to the economy of this region, but minerals are finite. One day, the mines will close. If we do nothing now, our children may inherit exhausted land, abandoned infrastructure and an economy with no foundation beyond extraction. We therefore carry a responsibility to convert the finite wealth beneath our soil into enduring institutions above it.

We must build schools before the mines close. We must establish industries before the minerals are exhausted. We must develop entrepreneurs, engineers, artisans, doctors, educators, innovators and business leaders while the resources still exist to support that transformation. We must create a diversified economy capable of surviving and prospering beyond mining.

I make this commitment before you as a son of Kudumane: I will do everything lawfully within my power to mobilise support for this vision. I will knock on every appropriate door, approach every relevant institution, engage every sphere of government and seek every responsible partnership capable of advancing it. I will not allow the enormity of the undertaking to become a reason for surrendering before we begin.

The first decision before us is not whether the entire city can be built tomorrow. The decision is whether we possess the courage to begin today—to authorise the journey, establish the required partnerships, undertake the necessary studies, protect the rights of our communities and progressively turn this vision into a lawful, bankable and enduring development programme.

This undertaking is greater than any one person, company or generation. It is about securing the future of the people of Kudumane, the Northern Cape, South Africa and, ultimately, our African motherland.

Future generations will judge us not only by the wealth that was extracted during our lifetime, but by what we built with it. They will ask whether we watched silently as opportunity left our land, or whether we rose together and transformed that opportunity into a lasting inheritance.

I have made my choice.

I choose to act.I choose to take responsibility.I choose to mobilise.I choose to build.

Kudumane City must happen.

Not for personal enrichment. Not for the glory of one company or one individual. It must happen because our people deserve development worthy of the wealth of their land. It must happen because our children deserve a future greater than the circumstances they inherited. It must happen because the time has come to transform Kudumane from a place from which wealth is extracted into a place where prosperity is created, retained and shared.

This is my personal commitment, our collective responsibility and an invitation to every stakeholder: let us imagine boldly, plan responsibly, partner lawfully and build together.

N!xau xaN!xau (Kealeboga Gift Mogapi)

Group Founder and Executive Chairman

N!xau Holdings Group of Companies and Projects