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The Stellenbosch Mafia

Inside the Billionaire's Club

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The Stellenbosch Mafia

By: Pieter du Toit
Narrated by: Dylan Oosthuizen
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About this listen

About 50km outside of Cape Town lies the beautiful town of Stellenbosch, nestled against vineyards and blue mountains that stretch to the sky. Here reside some of South Africa’s wealthiest individuals: all male, all Afrikaans - and all stinking rich. Johann Rupert, Jannie Mouton, Markus Jooste and Christo Weise, to name a few.

Julius Malema refers to them scathingly as ‘The Stellenbosch Mafia’, the very worst example of white monopoly capital. But who really are these mega-wealthy individuals, and what influence do they exert not only on Stellenbosch but more broadly on South African society?

Author Pieter du Toit begins by exploring the roots of Stellenbosch, one of the wealthiest towns in South Africa and arguably the cradle of Afrikanerdom. This is the birthplace of apartheid leaders, intellectuals, newspaper empires and more. He then 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? Who are the ‘old guard’ and who are the ‘inkommers’, and what about the youngsters desperate to make their mark? He looks at the collapse of Steinhoff: what went wrong, and whether there are other companies at risk of a similar fate. He examines the control these men have over cultural life, including pulling the strings in South Africa rugby.

©2019 Pieter du Toit (P)2019 Audible, Ltd
Business Corruption & Misconduct Entertainment & Celebrities Social Classes & Economic Disparity White Collar & Corporate Crime Celebrity
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What listeners say about The Stellenbosch Mafia

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

To the point and we'll researched

Great insight into this secretive world. Appreciate the mammoth effort that went into the book. Fantastic narration.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A useful and insightful account of the Afrikaner billionaires

Du Toit provided an insightful account of how a small number of Afrikaner families came to dominate South Africa’s private sector beginning in the mid-twentieth century and continuing to thrive in a post-94 democratic era. I expected to deeply dislike the likes of Rupert etc but they come across as overall good people who have SA’s best interest at heart, even if many of them are unwilling at times to examine the political and economic circumstances that helped them achieve their wealth (this isn’t to diminish their achievements as undoubtedly smart decision making and hard work contributed too).

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Insightful, but sounds like a PR piece

While it gave considerable background and history of the concept of the Stellenbosch Mafia as a phrase and as a concept, and placed it within a broader context, du Toit is unfamiliar with the social concept of a mafia as being a loose grouping of people who undermine, usurp and distort free markets to benefit an in-group. As such, his claim that the Stellenbosch Mafia is neither criminal nor a syndicate fails to address the central implied assertion of the term. Nevertheless for an insight into modern Afrikaner identity and its role in the Steinhoff Saga it contains many valuable insights.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

amazing african story

gives more insight on the wealth creation journey of a minority community and serves as a template for the rest of the nation

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing and abysmal narrating

I confess I thought this would be more than just a tabloid presentation of the Rupert’s and Steinhof fraud. Very limited and disappointing after having listed to his previous book “The ANC Billionaires”, which actually provided some interesting information. This felt like I was reading a tabloid expose!

My second gripe is with the narrator. At least try to put some energy in your delivery. This felt very much like someone reading a boring book out loud. I struggled to listen, as much as I think he struggled to read the book.

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