SUS1501
Assignment 5 Semester 1 2024
Detailed Solutions, Workings & Explanations
Unique number: 727126
Due Date: April 2024
1. BACKGROUND FACTS
• “In the 2018/2019 financial year, Bob van Dijk, the CEO of Naspers earned a total
remuneration (salary, incentives and options) of R 1.9 billion.”
• “60% of the world’s cobalt is mined in the DRC. Significant amounts of this is mined under
appalling conditions often by child labourers.”
• “Of the top 10 wealthiest people (all men), seven are tech billionaires. Their net worth is
US$ 847 billion or ZAR 13 trillion!”
2. INTRODUCTION (written for me by Prof Eccles)
In assignments 2, 3 and 4 we have, as a group, reflected on the facts above. We debated whether it was ok
for Bob van Dijk to earn ZAR 1.9 billion in a single year. Some of us thought this was a reflection of a job
done excellently. Some of us thought that this was morally outrageous.
We debated the issue children working in appalling conditions in cobalt mines in the DRC. Although most of
us thought that this was a problem, we saw how other ethical interpretations were possible.
And in the final analysis we considered the possibility that these two scenarios – great wealth and great
poverty – might in fact be linked. On the basis of this, we debated whether the whole picture looked ok. I
think it is safe to say that most of us were left feeling a bit uneasy about things.
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