FILE PHOTO: Sisa Ngebulana, founder and CEO of Billion Group. PICTURE: Supplied.
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0 A cursory study of the articles written by journalists for News24 shows that there is a blatant agenda to undermine excellent black economic leadership, writes MASIBONGE SIHLAHLA
Once again, News24 follows the tradition of AmaBhungane and others who promote the interests of International Monopoly Capital (IMC). The tradition of doing hatchet jobs on black business excellence. Sisa Ngebulana left Rebosis Group in 2017, but he remains a minority shareholder in the company that he founded. He left the Rebosis to focus exclusively on Billion Group, which specialises in property development and investments, a sector in which he has vast expertise.
As the minority shareholder, Ngebulana is not privy to management and/or board decisions. Therefore, it is very petty and reproachable for the so-called experienced journalists to impute his character in such a denunciable manner. Once again, the despicable racism that is underlying the reporting becomes clear to those who have suffered the brunt of Apartheid for their whole lives.
As it is no longer fashionable and definitely against the law to spew racism blatantly and publicly as in the old, Apartheid South Africa, journalists have found new legitimate means to spew their hatred against those who are of a different skin colour.
In this case, however, it is also a manner of demonstrating the machinations of those who want to ensure that black economic empowerment remains a dream because Afrikaners only became a political force once they became economically powerful under the guidance of the Broederbond.
When black business excellence is promoted by an African National Congress (ANC)-led government, it is seen as a threat by those who are beholden to the IMC. The British maintained their power over the Boers by keeping them economically downtrodden and using the Scorched Earth policy during the South African War, also called the Anglo-Boer war, as well as long after the war when ‘English’ speakers were given preference.
The Afrikaners, once given the Union of South Africa on a plate, set about to better their masters and became even more oppressive against the blacks, who have helped them many times in their war against the British. Yet, this is the thanks they gave the blacks after the war and that is the Apartheid.
Today, Apartheid is no longer a law, but it is still practised within the law; it is practised in ways that mask their criticism of blacks as public concern or anti-corruption. The Afrikaners used similar ploys to fool their voters, saying that they were not against blacks, but against communism-inspired agitators and so forth.
It is very telling of the journalists that they selectively present the facts to the public which tends to put the blacks in a bad light. For example, they neglect – very conveniently – that Ngebulana developed the BT Ngebs Mall in Mthatha, Eastern Cape.
He does his homework well and is a respected business leader who invites a group of friends to his wedding in Paris and flies them over and accommodates them at his own expense. Stories like these make racist journalists boil with jealousy and envy because, in their brains, they still see the blacks below them.
Land lying idle is worthless for any businessman, but a visionary like Ngebulana immediately saw that the land on which Baywest Mall is now situated can create wealth for investors and enhance the quality of life for those around it if roads, buildings and other facilities are put on it.
The Baywest investment could have been worth billions more if only permission was given for a housing estate across from where the Baywest Mall was developed, as envisioned by Ngebulana. The housing development was seen by those established beneficiaries of Apartheid as a threat to their way of life irrespective of the value it would have added to their properties and the growth of the local economy it represented.
Those very short-sighted racist beneficiaries of Apartheid used the favourite weapon in their arsenal when it comes to black property development and that is environmental concerns. It is sad that a few racists, were not really short-sighted because they knew that the Baywest accompanying housing development would have meant a massive infusion of cash into the local economy, but what they saw only was more blacks moving into their area.
Those who are in the Eastern Cape know that, besides the Baywest and BT Ngebs Malls, Ngebulana has developed Mdantsane and Hemingways Malls while he was a Rebosis chief executive officer (CEO). Just as the National Party under the Broederbond controlled the use of state resources to ensure Afrikaner economic empowerment, the ANC was forced to ensure that previous victims of Apartheid are uplifted and had their dignity restored.
Afrikaners must not think they did it on their own; the Apartheid regime used every state resource to empower them economically once they got into power. The ANC is doing it with no race card in sight, no white is rejected when he applies for an RDP house and so forth, for as long as he qualifies.
It was FW de Klerk who sold out poor Afrikaners; they cared only about the rich and powerful Afrikaners. If I am a poor white Afrikaner today, I need to realise that only the ANC can empower those who are poor to restore dignity.
A cursory study of the articles written by journalists for News24 shows that there is a blatant agenda to undermine excellent black economic leadership. When BT Ngebs was sold, it was clearly announced that this was done by a black company and, because it is a black company selling it, this further insinuated that the company was forced to sell.
When people read ‘forced to sell,’ it conjures up images of corruption, the very picture these racist journalists want to imprint in readers’ minds. Knowing fully well the many philanthropic endeavours he is known for, they elect not to mention it, as it would make him appear human. Under Apartheid, the blacks were both demonised and dehumanised and it is very difficult for racists to change their old ways.
We have many visionary and insightful black business leaders who are committed to growing the economy of South Africa in these difficult times. Yet we have News24, which boldly states on its website “[w]e live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred” while its journalists are the ones who are doing the blurring, but I guess, in their minds, they are fine and commendable because they are fighting ‘corruption’.
There are hundreds of court cases involving the corruption of whites, but do you see News24 blowing this out of proportion and reporting it with snide remarks to demonize them, as they do when they report on blacks?
It is regrettable that News24 owners give free rein to their journalists who are undermining the people of this country. News24 must remember the good work of visionaries like Ngebulana when the tide rises all boats rise, but its narrow-mindedness, which focuses on undermining black economic empowerment, makes them blind to the facts and so they blur it to the detriment of all the citizens in this country.
Blacks have suffered tremendously. If whites can remember the concentration camps of the South African War, then they must just multiply that by a thousand so much blacks have suffered until 1994. We need responsible anti-racist reporting that celebrates black excellence.
Rebosis is a property development company and, as such, it is their business to develop property and sell it when the time is ripe. What part of property development News24 does not understand?
News24 selectively omits that Ngebulana, the business leader and philanthropist, has retired from Rebosis. It also deviously neglects to mention what led to the current situation was a write-off of R3 Billion investment in the United Kingdom (UK) due to Brexit uncertainty (and resultant higher sale yield and drop in pricing) and a loss of value in shopping malls.
In the UK, Rebosis owned three regional malls where, along with other property developers, they all became victims of Brexit, which once again News24 conveniently forgets to report as it does not fit its racist narrative.
Many other entities, such as Intu (former Liberty International, with the highest number of malls in the UK) with SA investors, thirty-fold the size of Rebosis, went into liquidation as well due to the same reasons. But if you are News24, don’t let the truth get in the way of a juicy anti-black story.
Sihlahla is an Independent Writer and Political Analyst
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