In a compelling and wide-ranging closing keynote address, Dr. Naledi Pandor issued a rousing call to business leaders to rethink their corporate social investment (CSI) strategies, not just for charity, but for real transformation.
Dr Pandor closed the 2025 Trialogue Business in Society Conference, held on 13 and 14 May at The Galleria in Sandton, Johannesburg.
The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Driving Impact, Inspiring Change’.
Dr Pandor, a former international relations minister, urged corporates to move beyond surface-level contributions and “critically examine strategic intentions” to align with the development needs of South Africa and the African continent.
“There’s something we’re not quite getting right,” she warned. “We need to identify it and alter where recovered.”
Her message was clear: the time for business-as-usual in CSI is over. This echoed the message of Busi Mavuso, the Chief Executive Officer of Business Leadership South Africa, who said “The business of business can’t just be business” during her opening keynote address on the first day of the conference.
Dr Pandor, whose address was entitled ‘Unlocking impact: Business and the next chapter of development’, said the new imperative is transformation, measured not just in rands donated, but in lives uplifted and systems reshaped.
Reclaiming purpose beyond profit
Dr Pandor’s remarks opened with an acknowledgment of the important work already done in fields like health, education, child development, greening and entrepreneurship. Yet, she challenged delegates to see beyond fragmented efforts and consider CSI as an engine of strategic national renewal.
“Of course, it is positive that today many new post-apartheid corporate responsibility contributions make a difference to many individuals, families and communities. But think for a moment if there were stronger partnerships in executing local economic development strategies and plans, our national development plan and global climate change responses.”
Throughout her address she appealed for reflection, innovation and courage.
“Our private sector has played a part in our democratic-era successes. But models such as the Triple P (people, planet and profit) and other profit-making partnerships cannot provide the transformative value we could secure in what I propose in terms of rethinking corporate social responsibility strategically.”
A call for strategic partnerships
For Dr Pandor, reimagining CSI for the next chapter of development means stronger collaboration between government, business and civil society, not just to alleviate problems, but to solve them sustainably.
“We must not just train 10,000 young people with digital skills. We must ask: then what happens after that?”
The former minister emphasised that impact must go beyond training numbers or interim relief. It must drive systemic outcomes, reducing unemployment, enabling black business ownership and addressing inequality.
She encouraged business to look at neglected potential: green infrastructure, township transformation, modernising micro-enterprises like roadside chesa nyama (braai meat) stands, and funding post-secondary institutions, including new universities and legacy bodies like the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
“What a different South Africa we would create with such an initiative,” she said, inviting corporates to co-create new, liveable, technology-integrated communities with residents.
Embracing the African and global agenda
Notably, Pandor didn’t stop at South Africa. She urged companies to widen their lens to support pan-African development, particularly by investing in implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
“So, it’s important that when we have these policies, we don’t see them as distinct from corporate social investment. They should be of concern to all of us because they alter our continent’s future.”
Equally, she stressed a global responsibility, urging companies to support multilateralism, democracy and international law.
“If we neglect these, we will no longer become successful private sector companies,” she cautioned, invoking the moral urgency of global crises like the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza.
CSI in a post-aid world
Dr. Pandor also highlighted the withdrawal of international aid – from the U.S. and Europe – as a turning point for local corporate philanthropy.
“The private sector must surely not allow [the Centre for the Aids Programme in South Africa] at the University of KwaZulu-Natal to collapse,” she said, referencing vital health research institutions once reliant on foreign aid.
She called for immediate, strategic investment in local innovation, research and nonprofits – especially those battling HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis – stressing that South Africa must now look inward for solutions.
Legacy, heritage and humanity
One of the most powerful points in her speech was the plea to support legacy institutions and cultural heritage as part of CSI. She recounted a disturbing instance where a company pulled research funding after a university took a principled stance on Palestine.
“This is a very bad attitude on our part,” she lamented. “We as South Africans asked the world to support us when we were struggling against apartheid.”
Such selective philanthropy, she argued, undermines both freedom of thought and the transformational potential of corporate giving.
‘We’re in this together’
Dr. Pandor closed her remarks with admiration for what has been done, but underscored that far more is possible.
“We have sufficient human, financial and institutional resources present in this room to cause a radical alteration to our future.”
Her final appeal was deeply patriotic and urgent.
“We are in this game together. This is our South Africa, and we have to find ways of working together to alter our country’s condition.”
