Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa December/ January 2018/2019 | Page 10

MASTER INVESTOR
Johann & Gaynor Rupert handing titles to Aberdeen residents
audience. He was called an arrogant
racist by his critics all over social media
after the interview. On closer inspection
of the interview it seems that this
interview was an opportunity to ‘roast’
Rupert while he directly addressed
some uncomfortable truths about his
businesses and the country. However,
Rupert later apologized on Twitter that
he did not mean to offend anyone.
On the issue of land expropriation at
the Khaya Lam event Rupert declared
that, “When you go to land, I would rather
move it to property. Land is a very emotive
issue. It’s emotional for the blacks and the
whites and it’s obvious that there must be
a redress.”
Property Transformation
History
Khaya Lam – The First initiative
117 Title Deeds in Stellenbosch
On the 16th  January 2018  a historic
occasion took place in the Stellenbosch
Town Hall. Under the Free Market
Foundation’s Khaya Lam (My Home)
initiative, Mrs Gaynor Rupert, wife of
businessman Mr. Johann Rupert, handed
out 117 full ownership titles together
with the Stellenbosch executive mayor
Councillor Gesie van Deventer to tenants
of council properties. The beneficiaries
for the deeds are from Kylemore, Le
Roux, Cloetesville, Khayamandi and
Franschhoek. The oldest beneficiary was
87 years old.  The 117 residents entered
the Town Hall as tenants and walked out
as home owners with full freehold title.
This is the first step towards real economic
empowerment. 
Khaya Lam – The Second initiative -
70 Title Deeds in Aberdeen
The event took place in Rupert’s birth
town of Graaff Reinet at the South African
College of Tourism (SACT) which was
founded and is funded by Gaynor Rupert.
8
The presentation of title deeds followed
a graduation ceremony of 92 hospitality
students from disadvantaged backgrounds
who will go on to forge careers in the
tourism industry, supported and guided by
the College.
The FMF says that titling in South
Africa is a complicated “painstaking
process” complicated by lack of records of
ownership and bureaucratic complexity
but it requires sponsors like the Rupert’s
who are willing to fund the process.
Titling is particularly complicated in the
Aberdeen and Graaff Reinet areas.
Despite that on 16 November 2018, 70
residents of the Karoo town of Aberdeen
walked into the presentation hall as
tenants and out as home owners, with
full freehold title made possible by the
generosity of businessman Johann Rupert
and his wife Gaynor who are significant
sponsors of the Free Market Foundation’s
(FMF) Khaya Lam (My Home) Land
Reform Project.
Before personally handing the title
deed certificates to recipients, Johann
Rupert said the people of the Karroo were
a “special breed” and spoke about how
poor both his mother and father were
as “children of the depression”, and had
never let him forget his origins. Anton
Rupert, his father, used to remind him
that this region produced the Rev Beyers
Naude, Robert Sobukwe and the Cradock
4. He said they had  a special bond with
Aberdeen (all recipients were from
Aberdeen) because it was Gaynor’s home
town. Her father was a master-builder and
built the magnificent church in the centre
of Aberdeen.
When introducing Johann Rupert,
council Speaker Tembisa Nonnies talked
about the care and concern to “give back
to the people” shown by the Ruperts.
“Ek het evidence! 24 schools in the area
have computers and internet. Nobody
goes to school hungry. The pupils might
arrive hungry but they get a nourishing
porridge every morning. (At) 7 o’clock
every morning there are ladies who start
cooking the porridge, thanks to the
Ruperts,” she said.
Khaya Lam – The Third initiative – 326
Titles in Stellenbosch
The third initiative took place on 3
December 2018, in Stellenbosch, Rupert
and his wife Gaynor presented more than
326 title deeds that they have sponsored to
the ‘new’ home owners. In the presentation,
Rupert said the people of the Karoo were
a “special breed” and spoke about  how
poor both his mother and father were as
“children of the Depression”, and that they
had never let him forget his origins.
When introducing Rupert, Council
Speaker Tembisa Nonnies revealed the
Gaynor and Johann Rupert handed 326 titles to residents of Stellenbosch
DECEMBER 2018/JANUARY 2019 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine