Monde Tabata awarded Honorary Doctorate by Monash University

14 February 2011

From the left: Dr Alan Finkel, Chancellor, Monash University with Dr Monde Tabata and Prof Tyrone Pretorius, Pro Vice-Chancellor and President, Monash South Africa

Dr Monde Tabata

Well known business man and entrepreneur Monde Tabata was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Laws) at the Monash South Africa graduation ceremony held at the Sandton Convention Centre, on Saturday 12 February 2011.

Born on 23 July 1960, in the Eastern Cape, Monde Tabata attended school in KwaZulu Natal and matriculated in 1979. He attended the University of Fort Hare and Rhodes University where he graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in 1985.

He has worked as General Manager for Information Media Services at the former Ciskei homeland’s Department of Agriculture, at Eskom as a Market Development Executive and at Murray & Roberts in its housing unit: Bernhardt Dunstan and Associates.

He was also Chief Executive of the Business Opportunity Centre (BOC), a progeny of a public-private partnership aimed at promoting interaction between established businesses and emerging black business to ensure sustainability of the national business sector.

In 1995 he was invited by Trevor Manuel, the then Minister of Trade and Industry, to join the team formed to promote the new Small Business Development Act. As a consequence he was appointed Chief Executive of the National Small Business Council. His contribution changed the face of business in general, but particularly that of micro-enterprises.

In 1998, he became a shareholder and Executive Director of Global Resorts SA. Throughout this role, Monde demonstrated his passion and dedication to the upliftment of disadvantaged communities.

From 2002 to 2004, Monde served as a Deputy Chief Executive of the premier sports strategy and marketing company, Megapro Marketing (Pty) Ltd. He was Managing Director from July 2004 until January 2008. It was during his leadership that the company positioned itself to capitalise on, and contribute to, the exciting chapter in the sporting history of South Africa, including the awarding of hosting and organising rights of the 2010 FIFA World Cup to South Africa.

He has since been involved in raising sponsorship for various sporting bodies throughout the country including provincial rugby, major local football clubs, Boxing South Africa and other sporting initiatives.

In 2007, Monde was appointed to the Board of Directors at Peermont Hotels, Casinos and Resorts. Monde’s association with this organisation did not start in 2007. Since 1999, he had been the Chairman of the East Rand Youth and Children Trusts that are linked to Emperors Casino, a subsidiary of Peermont.

In his association with Peermont, Monde has personally driven, among others, the attainment of social commitments made to the Gauteng Gambling Board which has ensured that the company becomes a highly regarded corporate citizen.

The establishment of two Trusts is a clear realisation of this objective.
Under his chairmanship, the East Rand Youth Trust provides support for tertiary education and industrial skills training to disadvantaged youth, from communities in Ekurhuleni, whose families cannot afford to pay for their education. The Trust has funded the education of a large number of youth, many of whom have graduated from various tertiary institutions. The Trust offers comprehensive bursaries that cover education, tuition, accommodation, study aids, books, stationery as well as a monthly allowance for the recipients.

Similarly, the East Rand Children Trust supports school-going children (including aftercare centers for orphaned children) and has made a remarkable impact in the development of children and the region.

Monde recently established a family investment company that is involved in the development of granite mining and real estate in the Eastern Cape and uses this venture for special-purpose investment to benefit his childhood community of Zwelitsha in the Eastern Cape.

In 2010 he was appointed by the Executive Mayor of the Amathole District Municipality to be part of a team that advises on development of the district.

In his address at the graduation, Dr Tabata said: “I am most humbled to accept this honour which is made meaningful for me knowing that some of the more deserving honorees are outstanding citizens of the world. They include the iconic New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary, who distinguished himself as the first human being to conquer the highest point of Mount Everest and Malcolm Fraser the former Prime Minister of Australia.”

He congratulated the new Monash graduates on the successful completion of their studies. “I have confidence in the human quality of this generation of youth and I believe that they are equal to the challenges that face them. While my generation was trapped in a world prescribed by the prejudices of our time, this generation is emerging into a world of with an abundance of opportunities.”

“While my generation spoke of a global village as a prophecy, this generation lives within it and navigates it. Their contribution is characterised by entrepreneurship, innovation, invention, environmental friendliness and through the breadth of their minds, has given us the possibility of a world without borders.

“I am confident that this generation of graduates will be the agency of change in the continent at all levels.  We rely on them to return to their societies to make a change and they owe it to themselves to create environments within which their best can be achieved.

“I encourage them not to use their status as the educated elite to establish a social gap between themselves and their poorer and needy fellow countrymen and to live a life of service to humanity, productivity and social responsibility.

“It is also our hope that this generation of graduates will not take part in the sub-culture of patronage that prevails in many parts of the continent, or join the pursuit of crass materialism found in our countries, or that they will join institutions and practices that deny their people a fair share of what is expected for all human beings. 

“I hope that they will shun the scourge of tribalism, ethnicism and narrow nationalisms which many politicians in our continent use to stunt the growth of a sophisticated populace in their countries. 

“Among them, I expect to see pioneers for the integration of the continent so that it becomes a significant single economic market that is able to join the emerging major economic players such as China and India, as an equal, rather than as a candidate for benign re-colonisation by these new economic powers.   

Tabata appealed to the graduates to be driven by values rather than expediency.