He came back – predictably enough – to excoriation from the government. What he hadn't expected was the message borne on placards by employees at Premier Group factories: "Bloom!" they exhorted, "Don't talk to the ANC! Talk to your workers!" It was, of course, the classic liberal bind: a left-right squeeze which makes life inescapably uncomfortable.
At the time Bloom laughed; now he is leaving South Africa. It is difficult to resist viewing his departure as a harbinger of hopelessness, a deep bow to pressure. But the outspoken magnate simply will not have this. Sitting in his Killarney office (the sumptuousness of which he will have same difficulty in replicating in London) yesterday he insisted his decision was based on business and personal considerations and his politics were unchanged. There is still a role for business in political change: South Africa is not "on the brink of a cataclysmic explosion"; he is not taking the chicken run, he said.
Why had he chosen to announce his departure so publicly, when it is not unusual for SouthAfrican businessmen to live abroad for most of each year? "Firstly, I couldn't sneak out of the country like a thief at the night. And Premier is too important a group in the economy to have an expatriate chairman. I would have had to hand over the chairmanship, and that would have been a public announcement – it was unavoidable. "The reason for the timing was that the press were making enquiries. I think it's better to tell people, and it is not something I am ashamed of. It's only in this country that it is given these momentous political overtones.
Bloom is bitter about reports in local newspapers about his decision to emigrate. "I got the treatment I expected from the Afrikaans papers. But I was surprised at others who degenerated into what I thought was a despicable form of journalism with regard to my family circumstances (Bloom's daughter is hospitalised in the United Kingdom)." His message to young businessmen who favour fundamental change is to: "become involved in the issues of national life, to state opinions unequivocally and unambiguously in public, and have the courage to keep doing so. The new generation "must not be cowed into silence," and he hopes his"intensely personal" decision will not influence like-minded younger businessmen to follow suit.
Bloom still maintains the influence of business is limited "because the government puts politics, today almost synonymous with security, first every time, and subordinates economics. But, he adds quickly, "businessmen have had some successes – most importantly in convincing the government to abolish the pass laws."
Bloom believes politics have reached a costly stage of stalemate in the country, with extra-parliamentary resistance groups suffering such fierce and consistent repression – "their visible presence has declined because they simply can't function as a normal political movement" – that it would "not come as a surprise if the UDF eventually abandoned two fundamental cornerstones of their philosophy – non-racialism and non-violence. "If you close every door – this comes back to Mandela's trial – if every form of peaceful protest is closed off, if the only door left is violence, don't be surprised if people walk through it. I don't in any sense condone it, but it wouldn't surprise me. He is unapologetic – "quite the reverse in fact" – about the historic 1985 ANC meeting, and regrets the absence of further initiatives of this type. "It was a very constructive breakthrough. I think it is terribly important to keep a measure of contact with the ANC. One doesn't have to agree with everything they say and do (and I don't) … but I can't believe there can be any solution of South Africa's problems unless the ANC are involved in it."
This is not to say he is sanguine about the chances of dramatic initiatives in the near future: "At the time of the Lusaka trip there was more of a feeling of urgency. Businessmen are peculiar in that way. I think they've given up forms of vocal protest against government policies, for two reasons. "They've been cowed into silence by the State of Emergency, worried that what they say could be construed as a subversive statement. There's no doubt they were very frightened by what happened to Chris Ball (the First National Bank MD who was at the centre of the Munnik commission of inquiry). If that was intended as a message to the business community, it worked. "Secondly, there's a lull because we' re back into an economic upswing, and a lot of people have gone back to just running a business which many think is all they should be doing anyway."
He accepts that businessmen generally become politically active only when faced with economic and political crises. "I don' t think it's a coincidence that the business community became most vocal when the economy was in the worst recession for fifty years, profits were declining, and South African businessmen were shunned in the capitals of the world.
"It took a crisis to evoke their conscience, let' s put it that way." However, he says, there have been important – and irreversible changes in business practices (if not principles) over the past few years. He cites the increasing importance of trade unions, and the implementation of "social responsibility" projects. "Although some businessmen now believe the unions have got too powerful, are out of control, the unions are here to stay. Our attitude at Premier has been that we have to learn to live with each other."
Bloom intends to maintain informal contacts with a range of South African political actors, including the ANC. "But with my moving, in a sense I am going to lose a powerbase, and will have to fall back onto friendships which have developed. "He continues to argue that economic advancement is "one of the quickest ways to break down discriminatory legislation in practice, in the workplace, what the legislation tries to entrench in theory. "I still don't believe in sanctions because I don't think they work, and they produce belligerency and defiance in the white community."
However, Bloom says he "likes the concept of conditionality (regarding foreign investment) … a policy which involves the carrot and stick, not only stick. "But I won't be actively campaigning on this. l' ve got to pick up my life again and start from scratch – it's going to’ take some doing." He remains on the Premier board, is not about to sell his houses in South Africa, and plans to be back in the country "at least four or five times a year. I am not severing my ties." He regards as "challenging" the opportunity to do "something different in a different atmosphere and environment. I am 49 now, that gives me another 15 years of working life." – Shaun Johnson.
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
