Two high flyers speak out on Israel and SA

VANESSA VALKIN

“The discourse is not balanced and it is not helpful,” he added. “It is not a question of giving Israel a free ride,” but antagonism towards Israel here in South Africa “is way worse than anywhere in Europe”.

Davis was speaking along with Stephen Koseff, chief executive of Investec Bank, about the appropriateness of businessmen to comment publicly on politics. Both Davis and Koseff, legends in their respective fields of mining and banking, said they felt it was incumbent on business leaders to speak up.

RIGHT: Stephen Koseff

“If you have something to say, say it, back it up and if they don’t hear, say it again,” Davis told the group, with a smile.   

Davis has historically been very vocal on Israeli politics in the United Kingdom where he holds a number of Jewish leadership roles. And although he is a big supporter of Israel, both with his pounds and with his time, he has not been scared to criticise it.

At the end of 2013, he sparked a lot of controversy by claiming Israel was doing too little to show a commitment to peace. In an online article for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, he criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said that Diaspora efforts to fight delegitimisation of Israel were being hampered by the actions of his government.

In 2010 he publicly warned that Israel was at risk of becoming an apartheid state over its treatment of Palestinians. “I was condemned by a lot of people,” he recalls. “But if I see something that I don’t think is correct, I will voice it.”

He said he believed that “it’s possible to be a friend of Israel and still support the rights of the Palestinians”.

LEFT: Mick Davis

Davis, who hails from Port Elizabeth and went to Theodore Herzl Jewish day school, is chairman of the Board of the Jewish Leadership Council of Great Britain, chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Commission, chairman of Euro Chai South Africa, and honorary president and former chairman of the United Israel Appeal of Great Britain.

Since leaving Xstrata which merged with Glencore two years ago, Davis has gathered a £3bn fund to make acquisitions for his new mining venture X2 Resources.

Koseff, who is less outspoken on Israel, ensures that Investec supports initiatives that promote Israel’s standing here. The bank funds trips there for South Africa’s future business and political leaders as well as supporting forums like the South Africa-Israel Chamber of Commerce. 

Koseff also says he is not shy to speak out about the way he sees the situation on his home turf. “It is a tragedy that our society is nowhere where it should be,” he notes. “And I have no shame in telling government you are letting us down and we are not letting you down,” he says.

“You have a very strong private sector here and a few elements of government that are good… corruption is a problem.”

Despite this, Koseff is happy that there is at least freedom of expression and people can voice their dissatisfactions.

He believes that business has a very important role in building South Africa.

“The greatest coalition between business and government should be on education.” Investec sponsors the Promaths programme which provides extra tuition in maths and science to pupils in grades 10 through 12 at six learning centres across the country.

Koseff also believes that in a country like South Africa with such great disparities in wealth, “business has to shift away from maximising corporate profit to a focus on being good corporate citizens”, although companies still have to focus on building profits, he adds with a grin.

But, both men agree that overtaxing the wealthy is not a solution to the economic disparities.

Says Davis: “The idea that you can help poor people by taking money from rich people is a fallacy.”