The peace parks are perhaps the most imaginative project initiated by the philanthropist Rupert in a long business career that he has applied to the benefit of society on many fronts.
The Ruperts appear on the Forbes business magazine’s list of the world’s wealthiest people, the billionaires with estimated assets of more than 1 000 million American dollars. Besides the Ruperts, Forbes only lists one other family from Africa: the Oppenheimers, the heirs of the South African mining magnate Sir Ernest Oppenheimer and his son Harry.4
The main difference between these two South African families, both of whom have contributed enormously to the development of their country as well as to community welfare, is that Rupert started with next to nothing when he built his international business empire, nor did he depend on the country’s abundant mineral riches as a base.
Labelled in the media as the ‘king of luxury’, the ‘secretive marketing giant’, the ‘shy king of snob smokers’ and the ‘true gentleman of the business world’, he built an international reputation.
The chemistry student – who with a personal investment of a mere £10 started a worldwide group of companies that would make him a world-famous entrepreneur – is linked to some of the best-known international trademarks, the foundation on which his business empire is built. From Cartier, the ‘king of jewellers and the jeweller of kings’, to the luxury goods of Alfred Dunhill, from Mont Blanc’s stylish writing instruments to the oldest Swiss watchmakers, all fall under Richemont, the international arm of the Rupert umbrella. It was preceded by the establishment of a global chain of tobacco interests under the banner of Rembrandt and Rothmans, as well as the production of the most famous South African wines and spirits.
During his long career Anton Rupert developed into a man for all seasons, with active interests outside the business sphere: conserver of his country’s historical heritage; patron of the arts; navigator over political minefields; benefactor helping others to help themselves.
Still, in spite of the media attention that accompanies his public appearances, Rupert remains an intensely private person, someone who does not readily grant media interviews and whose private life is as mysterious as some of his weighty business transactions.
The eminent Afrikaans poet Dirk Opperman celebrated Rupert’s restless spirit and many-sidedness by describing him as the ‘prince of commerce’ who could reconcile commerce, science and the arts.5 His versatility is also the source of his interest in nature and animal life, the foundation on which the idea of peace parks developed.
Rupert was the first chairman of the Peace Parks Foundation (PPF), which has former President Nelson Mandela as emeritus patron. This icon of the 20th century likes to refer to Rupert as his ‘older brother’.
Eight heads of state of southern African countries serve as honorary patrons of the PPF, which facilitates the establishment and development of transfrontier parks. Rupert regards the Foundation as a catalyst, a concept from his background as chemist that he has used frequently in his long career – a substance that, without itself undergoing any change, precipitates a change in another substance.
The PPF’s funds, mainly derived from private individuals as well as institutions and big multinational companies, are used to develop the transfrontier conservation areas and also to train people in the tourism and service industries as well as game wardens.
To a world with shrinking natural resources, Africa with its vast, still unpopulated spaces can be a last refuge for irreplaceable wildlife and unspoilt natural beauty. This is why Rupert started linking the idea of peace parks to national parks. Besides, wildlife and conservation can provide a foundation for counter-acting the poverty and unemployment of many African countries. These activities prepare the way for tourism, the world’s biggest industry, the enormous potential of which has scarcely been exploited on the conflict-ridden continent.
He was able to experience the achievement of six peace parks being connected directly to his fatherland only a few years after the inception of the project. These transnational parks and conservation areas that are joined to South Africa and for which agreements have been signed with the respective governments, have already considerably extended the ‘African safari’ as a sought-after tourist destination.
Together with two other peace parks in southern Africa, these eight, with their abundance of animals and plant life, will cover about 60 million hectares. A further fourteen transfrontier conservation areas in southern Africa have been identified for development in the next decade. The 22 peace parks will ultimately extend over 100 million hectares, an area the size of France, Germany and Switzerland combined.
The idea of peace parks is gaining ground in other parts of the world as well, such as the demilitarised zone between South and North Korea, the Mont Blanc mountain park, South America and elsewhere.
The most extensive project in which South Africa is directly involved is Greater Limpopo, the game park that may become the biggest animal kingdom in the world. The renowned Kruger National Park of South Africa will be united with three national parks in Mozambique and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park. The envisaged peace park, four times the size of the already large Kruger National Park, will be home to an unrivalled collection of Africa’s animals, plants and trees. It is envisaged that this transnational park, extending across the borders of three countries, will initially cover 35 000 km2, which could eventually be extended to 100 000 km2 – bigger than Portugal, Hungary or Austria.6
Big game has already been translocated from the Kruger National Park to Mozambique. Among other wildlife, more than 1 000 elephants will eventually be moved to the Mozambican side: to a region where animals were destroyed ruthlessly during Mozambique’s civil war, but also the country from which the first elephants for the later Kruger National Park were donated decades ago.
The translocation of the first herd of elephants to the envisaged peace park took place on 4 October 2001, Rupert’s 85th birthday. For him this was a birthday present without equal: the realisation of a ten-year-long dream.
Still at Rupert’s side in this great experiment is his wife, Huberte. This strong and attractive woman has been a tower of strength and his sounding board throughout his career, his life partner with whom he celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary a week before on 27 September 2001.
Rupert often reiterates his belief that the idea is stronger than the man. His conviction that nothing can stop an idea whose time has arrived echoes an observation by the economist John Maynard Keynes: ‘The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared to the gradual encroachment of ideas.’7
Now, in his advanced years, Anton Rupert is experiencing the satisfaction of seeing the idea of peace parks becoming increasingly popular – an idea that may still become the biggest and most enduring trademark of the business leader who is regarded by an international trademark expert as the oracle of trademarks. Nothing would give Rupert greater pleasure than seeing such an inspirational, hope-giving idea expanding internationally from South Africa, the fatherland to which he has always returned after his world travels.
He draws inspiration from Albert Schweitzer’s thoughts on reverence for life. The German medical missionary, philosopher and philanthropist, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952, devoted his life to healing Africans in his hospital at Lambaréné in Gabon. Schweitzer regarded ethics as nothing other than reverence for life. ‘Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life, and that to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil,’ he declared.
Reverence for life is also reflected in a poignant bronze statue placed in the entrance hall of Rupert’s