News24 recently shared an extract from The Stellenbosch Mafia: Inside the Billionaires’ Club by Pieter du Toit.

In The Stellenbosch Mafia, the News24 assistant editor for in-depth news closely examines this ‘club’ of billionaires. Who are they and, crucially, how are they connected? What network of boardroom membership, alliances and family connections exist? What influence do they exert not only on Stellenbosch but more broadly on South African society?

In the excerpt below, Du Toit writes about the link between Johann Rupert and EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu, despite EFF leader Julius Malema’s public statements against Rupert and the ‘Stellenbosch Mafia’.

Read the excerpt:

In October 2018, Malema said he refused advice that he should ‘go to Stellenbosch’ so that Rupert could sort out his tax woes. And at an EFF black-tie event in January 2019, with wines from the estate of Rupert & Rothschild on the tables, Malema again attacked Rupert, saying he had rebuffed an offer ‘from a sister of Rupert’ for a meeting that could ‘benefit’ both.

The spokesperson for the EFF said, ‘Can you please tell the Ruperts that at least there must be one party in South Africa which they do not control. And let that party be the EFF. Because the likelihood is that the Ruperts have got everyone except the EFF. We run the risk of all parties in South Africa being owned by the likes of Rupert who have the money to buy everything that moves in this country.’

Interestingly, though, Malema’s public statements about Rupert haven’t deterred his deputy, Floyd Shivambu, from cultivating a relationship with the ultimate so-called white monopoly capitalist. During the ANC’s brutal presidential election in 2017, Shivambu was one of Rupert’s go-to men in his informal intelligence network, sometimes explaining the inner workings of the governing party’s processes and procedures – and often giving Rupert a head’s up before major developments in the party. (During the height of the contest, Shivambu told Rupert that Ramaphosa would win the leadership race.)

• Keep reading: News24

Also read:

• Video: Does the ‘Stellenbosch Mafia’ really exist and how much power do they wield over South Africa?

• All the book launch details for The Stellenbosch Mafia by Pieter du Toit – in Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Joburg and Pretoria

Categories Non-fiction South Africa South African Current Affairs

Tags Book excerpts Book extracts Jonathan Ball Publishers News24 Pieter du Toit The Stellenbosch Mafia