ANC condemns Johann Rupert’s ‘disingenuous’ remarks on economic transformation

The ANC has condemned one of SA’s richest men, Johann Rupert, for his statements on the governing party’s radical economic transformation policy, saying his comments were “disingenuous and extremely opportunistic” coming from a beneficiary of apartheid’s exclusionary policies.

Speaking on the sidelines of Richemont’s annual general meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Rupert reportedly said radical economic transformation was a “code name for theft”.

“Radical economic transformation is just a code word for theft. That’s what’s happening there. They’re raiding the state’s coffers. And it’s public knowledge,” Rupert said.

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa on Thursday reaffirmed the party’s commitment to radically changing the structure of SA’s economy, saying the billionaire’s comments fly in the face of citizens who are at the forefront of changing the country’s economic landscape and social relations through radical economic transformation.

“The discourse on radical economic transformation is informed by the racial inequalities that are evident in the economic life of South Africa. These inequalities are a legacy of the social engineering and structural underpinnings of the Apartheid political economy. By its design the colonial system – and particularly its apartheid form – enforced a social order in which access to economic opportunity was an exclusive privilege of white people.

“In that formation, the black majority is locked into a cycle of serving only as cheap labour that is super exploited for the purposes of capital accumulation by a white minority. This has resulted in a systemic trap of an over concentration of economic assets in the hands of white people, and a systematic exclusion of successive generations of black people from sustainable economic livelihood,” Kodwa said in a statement.

He said racialised economic relations in the country had “produced the generational wealth” of the Rupert Family.

“Thus, his arrogant condemnation of the important discussion about economic transformation in our country betrays his ill-gotten privilege. More importantly, it is these arrogant attitudes on the part of the privileged sections of our society that threaten the very idea of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa that we have always struggled for.”

Kodwa added that the ANC was unapologetic about its program of economic transformation, saying the party would not be deterred by “naysayers” such as Rupert.

“For his part, Rupert would be well advised to desist from derogatory, unfounded statements based on his innate inclination to preserve privilege and prosperity for a few,” he said.

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