Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane
Pretoria - Billionaire Rob Hersov has warned mining magnate Patrice Motsepe against funding the ANC, saying he should renounce the governing party and terminate his membership of it because “criminals” have taken over the government.
He said his family gave Motsepe the chance to become rich after AngloVaal Minerals, a company they once co-owned with the Menell family, was eventually sold to the listed African Rainbow Minerals, which is largely owned by the Motsepe family.
Hersov laid into Motsepe, who is also the CAF president, during his much-publicised speech at a BizNews event where he berated President Cyril Ramaphosa and called on him to resign with immediate effect because he was “useless, spineless” and an ”embarrassment“. Motsepe is Ramaphosa’s brother-in-law.
“I have to say something good about him (Motsepe) first. He is a very good man and a decent man, and a charming and generous man. He was the first person in Africa to sign the giving pledge to give away a majority of his money to charity when he dies.
“But Patrice, you’ve got one more thing to do and you haven’t done it. You need to stand up and say that you are disgusted with the ANC today and you will resign your membership and stop giving them money. The minute you do that, you are the legend you deserve to be. Until you do that, we are holding you to account until you do it,” said Hersov.
According to the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC) second quarter report on political funding, released last year, Motsepe donated R6 million to the ANC before the 2021 local government elections. He has also funded churches and traditional leaders, among others, leading to speculations by his detractors that he was buying influence in preparation for a possible presidential bid.
Ramaphosa made donations worth R366 000 in his personal capacity. The ANC has been in the news over the past year for failing to pay its own employees their monthly salaries, forcing disgruntled staff to down tools and take the party to court. It also failed to pay the medical aid and Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) contributions of staff members for years.
The Sunday Independent, sister paper to the Pretoria News, reported in December 2020 about Ramaphosa’s alleged plot to collapse the ANC by denying it funding, selling SOEs and using state organs to investigate and arrest his political rivals, especially former president Jacob Zuma’s supporters.
It’s unclear whether there is a link between Ramaphosa’s alleged plot and Hersov’s call on Motsepe to be on the “right side of history”.
“Everybody has only one chance to be on the right side of history. We are a failed state. The criminals have taken over the government. The ANC has become Africa’s new mafia, eclipsing Nigeria in structural criminality.
“How that spineless Ramaphosa deals with Phala Phala is the ultimate test of what happens to this country … The emperor has no clothes … If you look at his face, you know he has lost the plot,” said Hersov.
He implored investors to stop masquerading cowardice as patience.
The businessman said he hoped that funders would give money to opposition parties to create a “rainbow coalition” that would govern the country without the ANC. He shared an imaginary post-2024 Cabinet that he believed could run the country successfully. It includes well-known academics, activists, professionals and charismatic personalities such as former public protector Thuli Madonsela.
“I call on all ANC members who consider themselves South African citizens ahead of ANC loyalists to publicly resign their membership of the ANC,” Hersov concluded.
The Motsepe Foundation’s Benny Boshielo acknowledged receipt of questions on Saturday but requested more time to comment. ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe failed to respond to detailed questions on the party’s financial relationship with Motsepe.
Pretoria News