Our Team
Meet the Team
We are a small, grassroots organization. We have minimal overhead costs - minimal marketing and administration staff. Our Managers are “doers” - working managers who take on a full set of day-to-day responsibilities.
BCDT was begun in 1990 by Marion and Con Cloete. Marion and Con remain as mentors, leaving the administration, development and operations to their children Leigh, Nicole and Shanna. Now the Cloete’s make up only a small part of the management team. We are delighted and encouraged that many of the original Botshibelo children have chosen to remain and become part of management, including many promising young women leaders.
Awards
Our work at BCDT has been recognized by Inyathelo, the South African Institute of Advancement for Family Philanthropy. Marion received the award for Gauteng Woman of the year for Community Building
Cornelis and Marion Cloete
Third generation philanthropists Cornelis and Marion Cloete have been awarded the 2011 Inyathelo Award for Family Philanthropy.
The Cloete family’s history in South Africa dates back to 1652 when Jacob Cloete accompanied Jan Van Riebeck to the Cape. He was one of the first farmers to be given land as a free colonist in 1657 and the family has enjoyed wealth and privilege ever since. But in December 1990, Con and Marion and their three daughters gave up their upper-class lifestyle to start Botshabelo Village – a haven for poor, sick and displaced adults and children in the rural grasslands about a 100km’s northwest of Johannesburg. Their vision was to alleviate poverty by creating a self-sustaining community that would offer a place of safety and healing for anyone in need of help, including 250 AIDS orphans.
The Cloete family sold their home to start Botshabelo and have liquidated other assets to sustain it. They live and work on the property in the same way as everyone else. Using the traditional African village and its inherent ubuntu values of cooperation and shared responsibility as a model, the 1000-strong community includes an orphanage, school, medical clinic and organic farm.
Marion and Con honoured to receive prestigious Inyathelo family philanthropy award