Lord Attenborough’s role as a Unicef ambassador came under scrutiny yesterday after he appeared to try to persuade Nelson Mandela to accept a charitable donation from the controversial food giant Nestlé in exchange for a photo opportunity.
Officials from the United Nations Children’s Fund will be speaking to the film director and philanthropist about his extraordinary meeting with Mandela, which was captured in a BBC1 documentary.
During the meeting, Lord Attenborough seemed to be lobbying on behalf of the Swiss company, which has been criticised for pushing powdered baby milk on to mothers in developing countries and was attacked earlier this year for seeking $6-million from Ethiopia’s cash-strapped government. Health campaigners expressed anger at the scenes and are calling on him to consider his position.
Despite claiming a close knowledge of Nestlé in the programme, Lord Attenborough insisted he was not lobbying on the company’s behalf and had not been paid by it. He said his remarks in the David Dimbleby documentary, shown on Wednesday, were taken out of context.
In the film, Mandela: The Living Legend, Lord Attenborough was seen speaking with Mandela in a suite of rooms at the Dorchester hotel in London about how the former president of South Africa could raise charitable funds.
Lord Attenborough tells Mandela: ”I know that if you said, ‘I want more money’, knowing Nestlé as I do, if [you] said I wanted another half million or another whatever it is … you would have it like that [clicks fingers].”
Turning to Mandela’s assistant, Lord Attenborough goes on: ”They [Nestlé] are so desperate to reinstitute themselves in South Africa, to be seen to have changed their philosophies and that they are now totally in favour of everything he [Mr Mandela] stands for.”
In a corridor outside the suite, Lord Attenborough again addresses Mandela’s assistant. In lowered tones he says: ”I will ask Nestlé to ring you tomorrow morning. They are desperate to rectify their history and they hero worship him like millions of people.
”If he said, I’ll have my picture taken with you when you give me your assurance that you will so and so and so and so …”
He then clicks his fingers again and says: ”Quarter of a million, half a million, whatever.”
Patti Rundal, policy director at Baby Milk Action, one of Nestle’s fiercest critics, said: ”Knowing Lord Attenborough’s good works, it was a shock to see him appearing to act as a messenger for Nestlé. He could have been more wise. He was naive and he has to consider his position”.
In a letter printed in the Daily Mail yesterday, written in response to a review of the programme, Lord Attenborough insisted: ”I was not paid a fee by Nestlé and was not lobbying on its behalf.” He said Mandela had sought his advice about potential donors for his children’s charity in South Africa.
The film director said he reminded him Nestlé had given a ”significant sum” to Waterford, the mixed race school in Swaziland which Mandela’s children attended. Lord Attenborough is a governor of the school.
Lord Attenborough said: ”This part of the conversation was not included in the programme. What was included, out of context, was my idea that Mr Mandela should approach Nestlé directly for a donation to his own charity.”
A representative for Unicef, for which Lord Attenborough has been an international goodwill ambassador since 1987, said it would be speaking to him about the documentary.
It emphasised he had been speaking in a ”personal capacity” and issued a statement alleging that there was ”routine violation” of the World Health Organisation’s code on the marketing of breast milk substitutes, which says that mothers should be able to make informed decisions about how to feed their children free from commercial pressure by all major companies – including Nestlé.
A representative for Nestlé, which was forced into a u-turn over its attempt to seek $6m from Ethiopia, said the company had had no ”direct contact” with Lord Attenborough. However she confirmed the company was supporting the Waterford school.
A representative for the BBC said it stood by its programme. Lord Attenborough was not available for comment. – Guardian Unlimited Â