When the British design magazine
Wallpaper* described the
Afrikaans language as "one of the ugliest languages in the world" in its September 2005 edition (in reference to the
Afrikaans Language Monument), Rupert responded by withdrawing advertising for his companies' brands such as
Cartier,
Van Cleef & Arpels,
Montblanc and
Alfred Dunhill from the magazine. In December 2016, it was reported that Rupert had dropped
Bell Pottinger as the PR agency of
Richemont, accusing Bell Pottinger of running a social media campaign against him, to divert attention away from persistent '
state capture' allegations levelled at the
Gupta family. Interpol has issued red notices against Atul and Rajesh Gupta — two of the three Indian-origin Gupta brothers — who fled South Africa with their families amid investigations into their alleged looting of billions of rands from state-owned enterprises. In September 2017, Rupert, during
Richemont’s annual general meeting in Geneva, described the use of the term "Radical Economic Transformation" by Bell Pottinger as "just a code word for theft”, in order to cover up the "state capture" by their clients, the notorious Gupta family. Radical Economic Transformation is a policy championed by President
Jacob Zuma to reduce racial inequality in South Africa. In 2018, Rupert caused some controversy in South Africa for comments he made during an interview with
PowerFM. He was criticised for denying the alleged existence of
white monopoly capital, his account of the process of Afrikaner economic upliftment, and for comments he made regarding the saving habits of black South Africans. Following the incident Rupert issued an apology for his comments. The controversial leader of the
Black First Land First party
Andile Mngxitama stated afterwards that Rupert's comments were a reason to commit violence against white South Africans. == Notable international appearances ==