Rupert stirs up hornet’s nest

BILLIONAIRE TAKEN TO TASK FOR BEING ‘OUT OF TOUCH AND RACIST’ ‘The ultimate face of white privilege has been exposed for the whole country and our people to see.’

Billionaire businessperson Johann Rupert stirred up a hornet’s nest on Tuesday evening with some of the comments he made during an interview with Power FM’s Given Mkhari for the radio station’s annual Chairman Interviews Conversation.

Opinions from politicians, journalists and social media users ranged from calling the Remgro and Richemont chairperson “an arrogant, white Afrikaner”, to some praising his contributions to the country, and others commending him for giving black spendthrifts a reality check.

Rupert drew the most controversy near the end of the interview when he said the early “downtrodden” generation of Afrikaners, from which he was a descendant, were “driven” and “they didn’t go and buy BMWs and hang around at Taboo and The Sands all the time”.

The comment also drew laughter and applause from the audience. Many interpreted his comment as being about his views on black people, although he later said he meant people in general, and it was a generational thing, rather than a racial thing.

The Economic Freedom Fighters were among the first to react, issuing a statement saying they were “pleased that the ultimate face of white privilege has been exposed for the whole country and our people to see”.

The EFF statement dubbed the billionaire as “an arrogant, white Afrikaner who sees nothing beyond his selfish, racist, white capitalist interests”, and then congratulated “those blacks that confronted him, his racism, and his arrogance”.

During the interview, Power FM presenter Iman Rappetti stood to ask Rupert a question, and drew his attention to the