LETTER: Anglo’s leaders sacrificed very little

Peter Bruce’s column on the passing of Julian Ogilvie Thompson raised a number of issues (“To all those who could go but stay: respect”, August 17).

Firstly, what did those business leaders sacrifice in staying here? Outside SA, in the UK say, they had little if any status or acknowledgement. In SA they have their accrued wealth, offshore finance, a favourable tax structure, and their extremely comfortable homes and farms.

Successful careers built during the apartheid regime did little to challenge government policy. I remember top business leaders’ toenadering with prime minister John Vorster, both golfing and social interaction. The “change” that materialised was the expropriation of the Johannesburg Country Club grounds being rescinded (Rand Afrikaans University retained the golf course).

Why revere Anglo’s leaders in particular? They were responsible for a long-term, carefully worked withdrawal from SA, now complete. Up until 1994 the changes that were instigated, such as to mineworker housing, were internally relevant to Anglo’s mines, but unchallenging. As was the small percentage of charity the chairman’s fund dispensed — unlike the large Afrikaner-led mining house Anglo created.

Why not applaud the hundreds of well-trained professionals, skilled technicians and artists who stayed despite their abilities being welcomed internationally? They stayed and lived with the debilitating stress of “imposed” privilege under a brutal regime because they believed — rightly — that their presence would be a catalyst for peaceful change.

Johaar Mosaval, who died recently, stands out. From District Six to senior principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, he returned in 1976 to teach ballet in SA — then unavailable to people of colour — believing his skills would contribute.

Rod Lloyd
Newlands

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