Billionaire businessman Johann Rupert says he wishes he had contact with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
This revelation is contained in an edited extract from Pieter du Toit’s book, The Stellenbosch Mafia, published in BusinessLIVE.
Rupert lamented that he is seemingly a persona non grata in Ramaphosa’s administration.
I’d like to have contact with Ramaphosa, but I’m not going to force myself on him.
Johann Rupert
The billionaire said although he was close to Ramaphosa in the 1990s, they are no longer in contact.
He expressed interest in helping Ramaphosa’s administration to leverage his global business networks for South Africa’s economic benefit.
He said he never spoke to former President Jacob Zuma. However, he often spoke to former President Thabo Mbeki and was close to the late President Nelson Mandela.
Rupert expressed his gloomy outlook of South Africa future, saying he has lost confidence in the African National Congress (ANC).
He is also disappointed in Ramaphosa’s leadership. He hoped that Ramaphosa would show courage and tell the nation “what he is going to do.”
Rupert is among South Africa’s richest businessmen with an estimated net worth of about R100 billion.
His family’s flagship businesses are Remgro and luxury goods company Richemont.