The South African economy is stifled by a few dominant families, such as the Ruperts, who are present in all industries.
This is the view of ATM president Vuyolwethu Zungula, who believes the wings of Remgro, Richemont and Reinet boss Johan Rupert, must be clipped for the country’s economy to breathe and benefit all citizens.
Zungula spoke to Sunday World Engage as the party gears up for its election manifesto launch next month.
According to Zungula, the Rupert family and a few others are hogging the economy, giving them too much power than they should have.
The anomaly of the situation, he said, was that big business had liquidated the power of politicians, who were elected representatives of the people.
It was for this reason that millions of South Africans were economically inactive and were battling it out with foreigners for the small portion of the township economy.
In this regard, he said, the ATM was calling and advocating for the opening of the economy for more players to ensure that poverty and inequality are dealt with. If oligarchs like Rupert are not dealt with, he charged, South Africa can kiss goodbye to any hope of
achieving a better life for all.
Zungula said it was unhealthy that a Rupert would feature in the daily life of every South African from the time they wake up until they get to work and back through using products under his group of companies.
“It is wrong for our country to have a few individuals that are dominating the economy. The economy must be structured in such a way that it must have multiple players. We cannot have a few individuals or families with a widespread presence in all industries.
“That is why they have so much influence. Remember we heard that when former president (Jacob) Zuma fired Pravin Gordhan, the SG (secretary-general) of the ANC (Fikile Mbalula) was informed by Rupert that if he wants, he could have the economy crumble. You cannot have a case where an individual has so much power that it enables them to even utter such things,” he said.
Zungula believes the influence the likes of the Ruperts wield is problematic contributing to another problem of politicians who do the bidding of their funders instead of those who elect them.
This creates a skewed power dynamic where big businesses call the shots and effectively govern via the back-door instead of elected representatives, he said.
“Politicians ought to have more power than the private sector. The private sector in this country has too much power simply because our economy is controlled by a few individuals,” said Zungula.
In his view, the crisis starts with politicians owning shares in some of the big businesses that capture them through shareholder dividends.
Among other reasons that the ATM was internally funded was to precisely avoid this, where its leaders are in the pockets of big business, he said.
Zungula said: “We had to make a choice – it is either we allow ourselves to be captured and become the mouthpiece of monopolies who are the same people that have caused all these hardships for the citizens, or we choose to be independent and speak truth to power at every chance we get.
“That is why we can say the banking sector must be transformed because we are not funded by banks.
“That is why we are saying the telecommunications industry must transform freely because there is no one behind us saying, ‘do not say these things, or else we will withdraw funding and expose you for taking dirty money’.”
Rupert could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.
