Chances are you have heard of Sol Kerzner, the business magnate who has amassed a net worth in the region of $400 million (R5,2 billion).
You may not know the name Heather Kerzner, though, who was a Murphy before she married Sol back in 2000 – that’s the pair pictured above.
They split up in 2011, and Heather has since become engaged to Bell Pottinger boss James Henderson. Turns out she chose an interesting time to invest, with this below via Times LIVE:
[She] bought a 15% stake in the PR firm shortly before the scandal around its South African connection erupted…
Bell Pottinger has apologised for running a social media campaign on behalf of the Gupta family that stoked racial tensions.
The PR firm was pressured into dropping the Guptas as clients after it emerged that terms such as “white monopoly capital” had been concocted by the UK consultancy.
Kerzner and Henderson [above] jointly own 37% of Bell Pottinger.
She may well regret buying into the business her fiancé heads up, because there’s now a target on Bell Pottinger’s back and South Africans are livid. From Business Day:
Three South African public advocacy groups — Section27‚ the Helen Suzman Foundation and Save SA — are taking joint action over the probe into Bell Pottinger’s conduct.
The groups noted Bell Pottinger’s recent “unequivocal and absolute apology”‚ in relation to the work it carried out over the past year for the Gupta-owned Oakbay‚ and the fact that it had commissioned an international law firm to review the work done.
They have now sent a letter to Bell Pottinger with a request for access to the terms of reference and all information that will form the basis of the investigation‚ which is to be undertaken by the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.
That above is in addition to the DA lodging a complaint that Bell Pottinger violated the Public Relations and Communications Association’s (PRCA’s) professional charter and code of conduct.
I feel like most South Africans aren’t going to settle for a simple apology, given how much discord and disharmony Bell Pottinger have sown.
Let’s just hope, at the very least, their awful campaign here in SA scares away anyone who was considering doing business with these PR vultures.
