Rupert hits out at ANC – ANN CROTTY

REMGRO chair JOHANN RUPERT yesterday lashed out at the government, noting that corruption, interference with the courts and red tape that curtailed business growth were insults to the citizens of South Africa. RUPERT told the group’s AGM that he did not know how people started up companies in SA given the levels of corruption and red tape. “The biggest insult is that they [the ANC government] don’t seem to care what we think… not just business people but people who live in the townships”, RUPERT said. He also stated that REMGRO was “not interested in going into the print media”. RUPERT was responding to recent speculation that REMGRO’s involvement in the buyout of ELEMENTONE’s stake IN CAXTON was the start of a bid to move into the media industry. RUPERT also told the AGM that the board was not interested in expanding its investment in E.TV. “The only reason we are investors in SABIDO [which owns E.TV] is because we helped the ex-Communist partners JOHNNY COPELYN and MARCEL GOLDING when they were given a free-to-air television licence… I believed, having watched the National Party abuse its position with regard to SABC, the ANC would follow that approach”. RUPERT said it was important for SA’s future that there were people running television that “did not kowtow to government”. This news brief represents a summary of the original article.