Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi of the Royal Bafokeng Nation and Chairman of Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH), at the piano with members of The Black Tie Ensemble. RBH has become BTE’s principal sponsor, with a sponsorship package of R2.4 million over the next three years
Royal Bafokeng Holdings (Pty) Limited (RBH) and acclaimed opera group The Black Tie Ensemble (BTE) today announced a principal sponsorship agreement in terms of which RBH will provide a total of R2.4 million to BTE over the next three years.
RBH is the primary investment vehicle of the Royal Bafokeng Nation (RBN), a 300 000-strong community of black South Africans with substantial, minerals-rich land holdings in North West Province, and aspires to be the world’s leading community-based investment company.
Currently invested in the South African resources, industrial, services and finance sectors, RBH is set to conclude a landmark transaction, in terms of which it will exchange its royalty income from
Impala Platinum to become the largest shareholder in the listed entity, Impala Platinum Holdings Limited (Implats). Dividend streams from RBH investments are the major source of funding for the delivery of the RBN’s ambitious 30-year community development blueprint, known as Masterplan.
BTE, founded in 1999 by South African diva Mimi Coertse and celebrated opera director and costume designer Neels Hansen, is a multicultural group of young, talented and classically trained opera singers, coached by Susan Steenkamp-Swanepoel.
Amongst BTE’s aims are to:
BTE achievements include the creation of a permanent opera chorus under well-known chorus master Mathilda Hornsveld; an edutainment initiative dubbed Yebo Opera, which targets businesses, factories, mines and schools with live performances; and the staging of several major operas and concerts at home and abroad.
In terms of RBH’s principal sponsorship agreement with BTE, funds will be directed both towards BTE’s administration and to the development by BTE of an outreach programme for schools and villages in the Rustenburg valley. This programme will include introductory concerts; the identification of between 10 and 20 children to receive individualised tuition and training in music, singing and life skills; workshops for choir masters under the auspices of a professional conductor and choir master; and community concerts to showcase the talents of BTE and the community.
In addition, BTE will conduct annual auditions in the RBN capital, Phokeng, to select, on merit, one or two RBN singers for its Incubator Scheme.
RBH Chief Executive Officer Niall Carroll commented: "We are delighted to have forged this link with BTE. Through our subsidiary, Royal Bafokeng Sport Holdings, we are already focusing on sports development in the North West Province. We have been looking for some time to begin similar development in music, and BTE – because of its inspirational developmental vision and track record of excellence – is a very comfortable fit for us."
BTE co-founder Neels Hansen said: "BTE, like any organisation, needs a strong administrative core to conduct its business satisfactorily. None of our productions or developmental and outreach initiatives would be possible without it, and it is visionary of RBH to recognise and support us in this.
We are very pleased, also, that RBH has chosen us as its partner in meeting its own developmental and outreach objectives in the music field."
RBH: Mpueleng Pooe
+27 11 219 6000 (office)
+27 82 894 3801
info@bafokengholdings.com
www.bafokengholdings.com
BTE: Leon Bezuidenhout
+27 12 322 7944 (office)
+27 82 459 6748 (mobile)
publicity@blackties.co.za
www.blackties.co.za
