WEDNESDAY 6.30PM:
THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission special hearings on the role of business during apartheid continued on Wednesday with corporations and business groups denying they benefited from apartheid, while claiming to have attempted to fight against the social system that was declared a crime against humanity by the United Nations General Assembly.
Rembrandt Group chairman Johan Rupert said: “We did not participate in the system because we knew it was immoral and that it squandered the country’s resources, leaving our children in debt.” Rupert went on to claim that Rembrandt opposed apartheid from within. He added that although the group could possibly have done more, it nonetheless treated its employees fairly. In conclusion, he said: “But I still do not understand those who say they [business] benefited from apartheid. Nobody did but the fact that makes me happy is that we managed to get rid of two social disasters — communism and apartheid.”
In its submission, the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut accepted moral responsibility for the wrongs committed against blacks by apartheid. In one of the more honest business submissions, AHI past president Theo van Wyk said: “It cannot be denied that apartheid disadvantaged black business. It is clear that the AHI committed some major mistakes through supporting separate development. A further mistake we made was that of omission. No moral and economic objections to apartheid were lodged for many years … there was insufficient appreciation of the hardships and suffering caused by the policy.”
In its submission, the Black Management Forum said claims by white business leaders that they resisted apartheid and violated certain of its laws to undermine it must be rejected with contempt. BMF president Lot Ndlovu said the general strategy of white business was one of co-option and containment. He said the government and business were allied overtly and covertly. The business sector relied heavily on the state security system and the police to bully black workers into submission and subjugation. “Most managers served as police reservists. Business co-operated with security agents in providing data and monitoring workers. The result of it all was human denial and deprivation on a large scale … the isolated actions by business which pretended to challenge apartheid are a lamentable excuse, given its resources and the government’s dependence on it, as well as the direct benefits that accrued to it through its co-operation.”