Business of philanthropy
Ichikowitz claims not to see any contradiction between his day job and his charitable endeavours. During the question and answer session, we put the question to him.
M&G: Mr Ichikowitz, earlier this year your company Paramount signed a deal with Saudi Arabia. This was in the wake of the [Jamal] Khashoggi murder and documented abuses by the Saudi Arabian military in Yemen. How do you square that with your philanthropic activity?
“By way of background, that deal involves Paramount helping Saudi Arabia’s state defence company establish domestic production of ‘technologies and capabilities across the land, sea and air domains’, according to Reuters. Saudi Arabia is a key protagonist in the war in Yemen, which by a United Nations count has killed at least 102 000 people. Among other alleged abuses, Saudi Arabia has been accused of killing thousands of civilians through indiscriminate bombing campaigns.”
Ichikowitz: “I have the privilege to be involved in 22 companies. These companies have lives of their own and they employ tens of thousands of people. We have a long history of relationships between South Africa and Saudi Arabia. The very contract that you refer to is an industrial collaboration agreement, an industrial contract that will produce thousands of jobs in both countries. It has nothing to do with our philanthropic activities.
“Quite frankly, I think that in the current global environment it is very difficult to have a knee-jerk reaction to the relationship we have. You could argue that we do business in the United States, from a human rights and abuse perspective, it isn’t necessarily [trails off] ... I also do business in South Africa and frankly I don’t agree with what the South African government is doing. Business and philanthropy are related because the money for philanthropy comes from business. We do social impact philanthropy, we create jobs, and I don’t think we have to answer for the countries we do business with.”
This too is a disingenuous response. Ichikowitz and the Paramount Group have a legal obligation to answer for the countries they do business with. The National Conventional Arms Control Act states that South African arms manufacturers cannot export weapons to countries where they could be used in the commission of human rights abuses.
Ichikowitz may or may not be exporting arms to Saudi Arabia — the terms of the deal are not public — but in helping the kingdom to manufacture its own defence capabilities, the Paramount Group certainly risks aiding and abetting gross human rights violations on an even grander scale.
Ichikowitz insists that it is possible to separate his day job from his charity. In practice, it is very difficult to see where the arms dealer ends and the philanthropist begins — or if there is a difference between the two.
Ichikowitz did not grant an interview to the M&G.
Simon Allison was a guest of the Rhodes Forum