Wiese is South African business royalty. He acquired a controlling interest in Pep Stores in 1981 and pioneered discount consumer retail in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is behind many of South Africa\u2019s top retailers, including Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, Pep Stores, and OK Bazaars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There has been speculation that he is not on the best of terms with fellow billionaire, Johann Rupert. However, this is not true, at least not from his side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is no bad blood with Johann Rupert from my side, despite a previous business deal where we were on different ends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The subject of the dispute was a diamond mining company called Trans Hex Group, in which Wiese was the largest shareholder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a Rupert-affiliated company planned to make a takeover bid for Trans Hex, Wiese pushed for a higher price than Rupert\u2019s offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiese successfully leveraged his position to secure a more favourable price in the transaction involving the Trans Hex Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiese told Mpofu-Walsh that he views this as nothing more than a squabble around a business deal in which he came out on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if there is anything from his side, but I never held a grudge against Johann Rupert,\u201d Wiese said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that when they see each other, they are always friendly with each other. However, they are not \u2018firm friend\u2019,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christo Wiese\u2019s view on the Stellenbosch Mafia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Stellenbosch-Mafia-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWiese said he views the term Stellenbosch Mafia as laughable and that it is nothing more than a conspiracy theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EFF leader Julius Malema popularised the term Stellenbosch Mafia, which referred to wealthy Afrikaans men who lived in and around the Western Cape town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It became part of the business lexicon following the publication of Pieter du Toit\u2019s book, The Stellenbosch Mafia \u2013 Inside the Billionaire\u2019s Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Du Toit delved into the lives and business dealings of many wealthy men living in the picturesque Boland town, supposedly headed by Rupert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members of the club reportedly include PSG founder Jannie Mouton, Shoprite\u2019s Christo Wiese and Whitey Basson, and Mediclinic\u2019s Edwin Hertzog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other wealthy men associated with Stellenbosch include GT Ferreira, Michael Jordaan, Paul Harris, and Naspers chairman, Koos Bekker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is an interconnected grouping of extremely rich and influential businessmen who call Stellenbosch their home,\u201d Du Toit said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey exert enormous influence on various industries in South Africa, social life, and politics. They are deeply connected with politicians and politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiese dismissed the concept. He told Mpofu-Walsh that several people who are supposedly in this club don\u2019t even live in Stellenbosch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Stellenbosch Mafia concept is in the category of \u2018white monopoly capital\u2019. It is just something somebody thought up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said it is essentially the same as a conspiracy theory, suggesting that a small group of people is ruling the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI happen to know that among the people supposedly in the club, there is not a lot of love lost between several of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t particularly like each other, and I can hardly imagine them conspiring to do something together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christo Wiese, one of South Africa\u2019s most successful businessmen, discusses his relationship with Johann Rupert and shares his views about the Stellenbosch Mafia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":830398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[4137,24215,4666,2511,1639,4413,4076,7520,24214,20403],"class_list":["post-844281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-christo-wiese","tag-gt-ferreira","tag-johann-rupert","tag-koos-bekker","tag-michael-jordaan","tag-paul-harris","tag-pepkor","tag-shoprite","tag-the-stellenbosch-mafia","tag-whitey-basson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844281"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":844294,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844281\/revisions\/844294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWiese said he views the term Stellenbosch Mafia as laughable and that it is nothing more than a conspiracy theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EFF leader Julius Malema popularised the term Stellenbosch Mafia, which referred to wealthy Afrikaans men who lived in and around the Western Cape town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It became part of the business lexicon following the publication of Pieter du Toit\u2019s book, The Stellenbosch Mafia \u2013 Inside the Billionaire\u2019s Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Du Toit delved into the lives and business dealings of many wealthy men living in the picturesque Boland town, supposedly headed by Rupert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members of the club reportedly include PSG founder Jannie Mouton, Shoprite\u2019s Christo Wiese and Whitey Basson, and Mediclinic\u2019s Edwin Hertzog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other wealthy men associated with Stellenbosch include GT Ferreira, Michael Jordaan, Paul Harris, and Naspers chairman, Koos Bekker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is an interconnected grouping of extremely rich and influential businessmen who call Stellenbosch their home,\u201d Du Toit said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey exert enormous influence on various industries in South Africa, social life, and politics. They are deeply connected with politicians and politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wiese dismissed the concept. He told Mpofu-Walsh that several people who are supposedly in this club don\u2019t even live in Stellenbosch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Stellenbosch Mafia concept is in the category of \u2018white monopoly capital\u2019. It is just something somebody thought up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said it is essentially the same as a conspiracy theory, suggesting that a small group of people is ruling the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI happen to know that among the people supposedly in the club, there is not a lot of love lost between several of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t particularly like each other, and I can hardly imagine them conspiring to do something together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christo Wiese, one of South Africa\u2019s most successful businessmen, discusses his relationship with Johann Rupert and shares his views about the Stellenbosch Mafia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":830398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[4137,24215,4666,2511,1639,4413,4076,7520,24214,20403],"class_list":["post-844281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-christo-wiese","tag-gt-ferreira","tag-johann-rupert","tag-koos-bekker","tag-michael-jordaan","tag-paul-harris","tag-pepkor","tag-shoprite","tag-the-stellenbosch-mafia","tag-whitey-basson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844281"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":844294,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844281\/revisions\/844294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}