Steve Phiri successfully led Royal Bafokeng Platinum for 13 years. sits down with the CEO, who is retiring soon, to discuss his past, his lessons on life and why a lack of integrity is behind so much of the world's current problems.
According to oral tradition, when the first inhabitants came across this special area in what we now call the North West – a unique stretch of land whose mountains and valleys were filled with morning dew, they saw the promise of fertile soil and prosperity. They chose that sign as part of their name – the Bafokeng, or"people of the dew".
Historians Bernard Mbenga and Andrew Manson, in their book on the kingdom, talk about a nickname for the Bafokeng – the"tribe of lawyers", who successfully battled mining giants in court and emerged victorious, earning a right to wealth under their feet, possibly the biggest deposit of platinum group metals in the world.Get 14 days free to read all our investigative and in-depth journalism. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month.