If there is one lesson that Covid-19 has taught the world; whether it is sacrificing time with family or donating time and resources or simply following social distancing guidelines to stay home, the deadly coronavirus pandemic has shown that we are all inextricably connected because of our common humanity. We therefore owe each other a duty of care; hence shirking this duty to lend a hand to the needy, especially in their greatest moment of need is inexcusable and unacceptable. Looking at how much the world’s richest people have donated to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus that has killed no fewer than half a million people worldwide, it is indeed pathetic that African billionaires have shown an impetuous indifference to the continent that enabled them to generate their wealth.
The social distance separating rich and poor, like so many of the other distances that have been imposed to separate people from each other, in the wake of Covid-19 has exposed Africa’s billionaires as mean and stingy; with Africa’s richest man, Nigerian-born Aliko Dangote topping the Hall of Shame. With an estimated net worth of over $56.4 billion, the ten richest Africans – Dangote (Nigeria), Nassef Sawiris (Egypt), Mike Adenuga (Nigeria), Nicky Oppenheimer (South Africa), Johann Rupert (South Africa), Issad Rebrab (Algeria), Mohamed Mansour (Egypt), Abdulsamad Rabiu (Nigeria), Naguib Sawiris (Egypt) and Patrice Motsepe (South Africa); have made a combined donation to the Covid-19 response effort which stands at a paltry $212 million. Worse even, these stingy African billionaires have focused primarily on their countries of origin, with limited support to pan-African efforts championed by the African Union and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
To begin with, the combined geographical footprint of business operations across Africa owned by the ten richest African billionaires span over 23 countries; therefore, focusing solely on their countries of origin is not only penny wise and pound foolish; it’s also short-sighted and lacks business commonsense. Besides, these African billionaires have factories that could be repurposed towards manufacturing and distributing important medical supplies like test kits, swabs, ventilators, masks, personal protective equipment (PPE), similar to what private businesses have done in Europe, America and Asia.
Of the top ten African billionaires listed above, the richest African, Aliko Dangote has donated $3.12m. That makes Dangote the smallest donor, excluding the two Egyptian billionaires – Mohamed Mansour and Naguib Sawiris, who are yet to even make a single donation. Indeed, Naguib Sawiris shamelessly went on record and publicly threaten to commit suicide if the stay-at-home order and curfew in Cairo wasn’t lifted because it was devastating his business. The three highest donors who have each donated $55 million, to the Covid-19 fight; making them joint top donors are the South African billionaires – Nicky Oppenheimer ($7.7 billion), Johann Rupert ($6.5 billion) and Patrice Motsepe, ($2.6 billion). Compared to Dangote (10.1 billion) who has donated $3.12 million, Motsepe, the least rich of the top ten African billionaires tops the donor list with $55 million; amounting to 2.12% of his net worth, while Dangote; Africa’s richest man came last, having donated just 0.03% of his net wealth to the fight against Covid-19.
Put in proper context, Dangote, the richest but stingiest African billionaire, comes behind not just the three South Africans; he also trails the Algerian Issad Rebrab ($4.4 billion) who spent $30.7 million to buy 1000 ventilators which he donated to his country. Dangote also came behind Egyptian Nassef Sawiris ($8 billion) who has donated $6.3 million; and his two fellow Nigerian counterparts – Mike Adenuga ($7.7 billion) and Abdulsamad Rabiu ($3.1 billion) who have respectively donated $3.9 million and $3.38 million to the fight against Covid-19 as against Dangote’s $3.12 million. What a pity Dangote!
To understand the degree to which Dangote’s donation amount to an insult on Nigerians and Africans; compare Dangote’s paltry $3.12 million to the Chinese philanthropist, Jack Ma who has donated over $80 million divided across all of Africa’s 54 countries, without discrimination. Also consider US billionaire, Michael Bloomberg who has donated of $40 million to Africa. When Jack Ma announced his donation on March 17, WHO had confirmed only 424 cases and 11 deaths across 29 African countries.
On paper, it might seem unfair to compare the donations of African billionaires to Mike Bloomberg and Jack Ma who have a net worth of $51 billion and $41 billion respectively. But the total value of Bloomberg and Ma’s Covid-19 donations to Africa total $120m; more than half of all the donations of the ten richest Africans combined at $212 million. Jack Ma has given at least 0.21% of his net worth to Africa alone, putting his contribution above six of the richest Africans. Bloomberg’s donation places him way above the average donation by African billionaires of over $21m; which is heavily skewed by the three South African donations of $55m each; as most African billionaires donated between $3-7 million.
At the end of the day, African billionaires could do much more to support the fight against Covid-19 but so far, their effort is pitiful, pathetic, embarrassing and isn’t anywhere near enough given what they have the capacity to do. A report published by McKinsey at the outset of the pandemic suggested that African economies would lose between $90 billion and $200 billion in 2020 alone, which translates to an average contraction in GDP of up to 3.9%. This will widen inequality and deepen poverty, shrinking the market opportunities for these stingy African billionaires, especially Dangote with business interests in several African countries. Unless they take more significant action and coordinate healthcare and economic recovery efforts across the continent, Africa’s richest people stand to lose a significant amount of the wealth that they are refusing to deploy to help their fellow Africans.
To understand why wealth makes rich people stingy, one must understand how the distance created by wealth differentials break the natural flow of human kindness. The rich are less generous when inequality is extreme, which seems to indicate the problem is caused by inequality itself. Some have called it the Rich Asshole Syndrome (RAS) – the tendency to be indifferent to the plight of people with whom you have a large wealth and income differential. But does this explain why the richest people in Africa are so mean and stingy?
