Billionaire businessman and philanthropist Anton Rupert, who died in January, has been described as ”a man of worth” by President Thabo Mbeki.
In his regular internet column on Friday, ANC Today, the president said he and Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka were unable to attend the January 25 funeral service of Rupert because it occurred at the beginning of the January Cabinet lekgotla (meeting).
The government had ”released” Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel to represent the government.
Mbeki described Rupert as ”as an outstanding son of our people”.
”Born to sparkle as an Afrikaner nationalist, serving an exclusive cause, Anton Rupert was sufficiently inspired by the spirit of righteousness and justice, which is an inherent part of the making of the Afrikaners, to end his life as a celebrated South African and African patriot, a prophet of an inclusive future for the children of our country and continent.”
”As we bid farewell to Anton Rupert, I trust that all of us, black and white, will find it within our capabilities to translate his prophecy into the lived and living experience of all the children of Africa,” said the president.
In a rare personal note, Mbeki said: ”As I reflected on the life of Anton Rupert, I could not but remark the fact that my own mother, Pinky Mbeki, and Anton Rupert were born in the same year, 1916. He was eight months younger than my mother, she having been born in February, and he in October.
”But as our national history necessarily decreed, their life experiences were radically different. And yet, at Anton Rupert’s passing, I would not hesitate to conclude that these children of the Cape and 1916 had come to stand side by side as worthy representatives of the values of righteousness and justice.”
Mbeki also noted that Rupert had opposed apartheid and upheld the need for a business partnership with South Africa’s black population at a time when it was not popular among the ruling Afrikaners.
Rupert, founder of the Remgro empire, died in Stellenbosch on January 18, aged 89. — I-Net Bridge