0:00:02 > 0:00:10This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:10 > 0:00:13# Say, what's the word? Tell me, brother
0:00:13 > 0:00:18# Have you heard from Johannesburg?
0:00:20 > 0:00:23# Tell me what's the word now? Sister, woman
0:00:23 > 0:00:27# Have you heard from Johannesburg? #
0:00:37 > 0:00:40The South African white population
0:00:40 > 0:00:43lived better than anywhere else in the world.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Where else do you get a marketing manager for Colgate toothpaste,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50let's say...
0:00:50 > 0:00:53In South Africa, he's living on an acre of land with a swimming pool
0:00:53 > 0:00:57and tennis court, four staff in the back, two cars in the garage.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02You had corporate jets, you had chauffeurs, it was Nirvana.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08I always used to say a South African lifestyle,
0:01:08 > 0:01:10a British passport and a Swiss bank account.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12That's all you need.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21For black South Africans, life was far less comfortable.
0:01:22 > 0:01:27The whole political, economic system was exploitation.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33The Africans were systemically exploited.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37They were paid these extraordinarily low wages.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45You're very angry because you're living in abject poverty
0:01:45 > 0:01:48and there's nothing romantic about poverty.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52You see the huge social price in the community where you grow.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55You see it in your family, in your home,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58in the relationship between your parents and what poverty does there.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00And all because you're black.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03And who are responsible for the policy of apartheid?
0:02:05 > 0:02:09It is not only the white people of South Africa.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12It's the great and powerful countries who are carrying on trade with that country.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20It's the great business concerns who are drawing profits
0:02:20 > 0:02:22from the sufferings of my people.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27The anti-apartheid movement had been fighting to isolate
0:02:27 > 0:02:30the South African regime for more than a decade.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33But the major Western governments
0:02:33 > 0:02:36refused to support economic sanctions.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38It's these countries and their corporations
0:02:38 > 0:02:40who are running counter-current
0:02:40 > 0:02:43to the efforts of the anti-apartheid movement.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47So you hold them largely responsible for the continuance of apartheid?
0:02:47 > 0:02:49Absolutely, they are.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56Oliver Tambo, living in exile,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59worked closely with anti-apartheid groups around the world.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05Their strategy was an all-out attack on South Africa's economy by trying
0:03:05 > 0:03:10to persuade overseas investors to pack their bags and go home.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13What we wanted to do was create a situation
0:03:13 > 0:03:18where these companies pull out and there's a crisis,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20economic crisis of major proportions
0:03:20 > 0:03:24which will force the government and the international community
0:03:24 > 0:03:28to then work to bring about change in South Africa.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39We are not asking that you make a political decision.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43We're not asking you to make an economic decision.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46We're asking you to make a moral decision.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51Those who invest in South Africa are upholding
0:03:51 > 0:03:55and buttressing one of the most vicious systems
0:03:55 > 0:03:56the world has ever known.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22'Perhaps once or twice in a lifetime, there comes an invention
0:04:22 > 0:04:26'so radically new it actually changes the way we live our lives.'
0:04:27 > 0:04:31'Less than two seconds after you've touched the red electric button,
0:04:31 > 0:04:33'the camera hands you the picture.'
0:04:34 > 0:04:38'It can reveal the world to you as you've never seen it before.'
0:04:43 > 0:04:46In 1970, Caroline Hunter, a chemist,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50and Ken Williams, a photographer, were working for Polaroid
0:04:50 > 0:04:54in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when something caught their attention.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57It was really a fluke. Ken and I were going out to lunch
0:04:57 > 0:05:01and as we passed through the workplace on our way out,
0:05:01 > 0:05:03we saw an ID badge made for South Africa.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06We looked at it and began to say to each other,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09"We didn't know Polaroid was in South Africa."
0:05:09 > 0:05:14In South Africa, what Polaroid did was...
0:05:14 > 0:05:19they introduced the kind of technology that would give
0:05:19 > 0:05:23the government a very effective hold on black people through the pass.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Black people had to carry a passbook at all times to prove
0:05:31 > 0:05:35that their presence in the city was legitimate.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Those without jobs were expelled to rural homelands where it was
0:05:39 > 0:05:42impossible to earn a decent living.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51The passbook system forced migrant workers to live in townships
0:05:51 > 0:05:53outside the white cities.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58The penalty for failing to produce a passbook on demand was imprisonment.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06We really had some sense that no-one is free unless everybody is free,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09and that we had some relationship to black people everywhere.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13And as workers, we had a right to say what happened to our labour
0:06:13 > 0:06:15so we started off just asking the question,
0:06:15 > 0:06:17what is Polaroid doing in South Africa?
0:06:21 > 0:06:24We found out that Polaroid had been doing business
0:06:24 > 0:06:28with the South African government since 1938 and had been supplying
0:06:28 > 0:06:31the South African government with cameras and film
0:06:31 > 0:06:33for the apartheid system.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35And that there was great business.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38I mean 22 million South Africans, that's a lot of film.
0:06:38 > 0:06:46This was certainly viewed very quickly as a major issue.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49It was something that affected our black employees,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53it affected our white employees because they had assumed
0:06:53 > 0:06:59that they were working for a company that was socially responsible.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Most people refused to believe that they were there
0:07:02 > 0:07:06or didn't know enough about South Africa to care.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11The company's first reaction was to try to deflect the whole issue.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14So we realised we needed some help.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17That's how we got in touch with Chris Nteta.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Polaroid lied about the pass.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21One of the statements they made
0:07:21 > 0:07:24was that everybody in South Africa carries a pass.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28And I exploded that little myth because that's not true.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Only black people carry passes.
0:07:31 > 0:07:32Do you have your pass on you?
0:07:32 > 0:07:36You're the mayor of the place, but what does it say your status here is?
0:07:36 > 0:07:42Well, in this reference book here it's stated that I am permitted
0:07:42 > 0:07:46to remain in the area of Johannesburg as a casual labourer.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48So you could be thrown out.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52I could be thrown out any day as long as anything goes
0:07:52 > 0:07:55slightly wrong with this reference book.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00# Swing it up
0:08:00 > 0:08:02# It says yes
0:08:02 > 0:08:04# Take the shot
0:08:04 > 0:08:05# Count it down
0:08:05 > 0:08:07# Zip it up. #
0:08:08 > 0:08:12Unable to get any action from Polaroid,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Caroline, Ken and Chris went public.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18We were going around very actively speaking to high school groups,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21to college groups, to anybody who would listen to us,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24talking about the devastation of apartheid.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26And the fact that we could make a difference,
0:08:26 > 0:08:28that people in America could make a difference.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31People here, black people especially,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34in this country, can begin to make a contribution
0:08:34 > 0:08:36to the liberation of black people in southern Africa,
0:08:36 > 0:08:40not by going there but by doing something right here,
0:08:40 > 0:08:45forcing United States corporations that are doing business there to withdraw.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08We were in a total flak storm.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10There was no escaping it.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12It was a local issue.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19It quickly became national, because apartheid was universally deplored.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24Every part of the newspaper except sports and food
0:09:24 > 0:09:27covered the story about Polaroid in South Africa.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32I think we escaped the comic page probably too,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34because nobody thought it was funny -
0:09:34 > 0:09:36least of all us.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40The revenues from that operation were a very small part of our total
0:09:40 > 0:09:45international sales so we could easily have just stopped.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49Great, why don't you pull out? You won't even miss it.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52They said no, so we said, "That's very curious.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56"The kind of pressure we're subjecting you to,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59"to a normal thinking person, rational person
0:09:59 > 0:10:03"would say 'I don't need this, let's pull out.'"
0:10:03 > 0:10:06So there must be something bigger than what we were seeing here,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10either the involvement is bigger than you're willing to publicly admit to
0:10:10 > 0:10:14or there are other players who are telling you, "Don't."
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Certainly, our board members, many of whom were on the boards
0:10:19 > 0:10:22of other companies, it was a big issue for them.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Other companies expressed concern
0:10:25 > 0:10:28and wanted to know how we were handling the issue.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33One such company was General Motors, who had been in South Africa
0:10:33 > 0:10:35since 1926.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Religious organisations began to
0:10:47 > 0:10:50put their morals, their ethics, their social principles
0:10:50 > 0:10:51on the same table as their money.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55So in 1971, the Episcopal Church
0:10:55 > 0:10:58decided to sponsor a shareholder resolution,
0:10:58 > 0:11:00a petition to General Motors,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03demanding that General Motors withdraw from South Africa.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09GM board members refused the resolution that year.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13But the next year, another minister would take up the cause.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19GM had faced a lot of pressure about the fact it was an all-white,
0:11:19 > 0:11:21male board and had no diversity on its board.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26Last year's proposal for a black member of the board of directors lost until January,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Philadelphia Minister Leon Sullivan was named to the board.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32They wanted a minority representative on the board
0:11:32 > 0:11:34and they selected me.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38So I'm being used by GM, so if GM uses me, I'm going to use GM.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40I think didn't they know what they were getting
0:11:40 > 0:11:43when they got Leon Sullivan on their board.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48So at that first stockholder meeting, I took the microphone
0:11:48 > 0:11:51and said I'm asking General Motors to leave South Africa
0:11:51 > 0:11:53and every other company in America
0:11:53 > 0:11:56to leave South Africa until apartheid ends.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59And Leon Sullivan doesn't just speak, he preaches.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04He spoke from the heart about the injustice that apartheid represented.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07This was extremely embarrassing to the CEO
0:12:07 > 0:12:09and the rest of the directors, of course.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11Can you imagine a black man
0:12:11 > 0:12:13for the first time in the history of the world
0:12:13 > 0:12:17challenging a stockholders' meeting in a large corporation?
0:12:17 > 0:12:19How do you think they reacted?
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Angry! Angry!
0:12:25 > 0:12:28Nothing like this has happened before.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32Where did this come from? Why did we put him here?
0:12:36 > 0:12:38General Motors' basic response,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42as most companies at that point was, "We're going to stay there.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45"We're going to do business there."
0:12:45 > 0:12:49The pressure against GM went on for years and years and years of course
0:12:49 > 0:12:53and they every year had a shareholder resolution on South Africa,
0:12:53 > 0:12:58so the stockholders and the company and the management couldn't get away from it.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03It was a major historical moment. It launched a thousand ships.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06By the 1980s, virtually every company in South Africa
0:13:06 > 0:13:09was receiving shareholder resolutions.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22In Britain, the anti-apartheid movement focused its attention
0:13:22 > 0:13:25on one of the oldest and most powerful banks in the world,
0:13:25 > 0:13:26Barclays.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33'When you're dealing with money,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36'isn't it nice to know you can get a helping hand?
0:13:36 > 0:13:39'You can at Barclays Bank.'
0:13:39 > 0:13:42People started to realise, Barclays was actually not just
0:13:42 > 0:13:44a major high street bank in Britain
0:13:44 > 0:13:48but THE major high street bank in South Africa.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51We were a very natural target, in fact if I were in their position,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54I would probably have chosen Barclays myself.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05There are a lot of countries where one disapproves of a regime.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Actually, you do quite well there,
0:14:07 > 0:14:09trying to improve the lot of the people
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and incidentally make money for your shareholders.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18Going to shareholders' meetings was a joy.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21You only had to have one share to get into a shareholders' meeting.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24Or in my case, all you had to do was put on a suit on
0:14:24 > 0:14:26and walk in confidently.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28About a dozen of us or 20 of us all turned up
0:14:28 > 0:14:31and it was the first time it had ever happened in Britain.
0:14:31 > 0:14:32They immediately popped up
0:14:32 > 0:14:35and said, "You can't introduce politics into investment.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37"This is just finance and accountancy."
0:14:37 > 0:14:40Sort of, "leave us alone to get the best return possible
0:14:40 > 0:14:44from our investments," and we said, "Absolutely not."
0:14:44 > 0:14:47People with the loudest voices like David Haslam would be
0:14:47 > 0:14:49barking against the management,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52"Why are you dealing with South Africa, where there's slave labour,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55"there is murders and killings and so on going on?"
0:14:55 > 0:14:58"You are profiting from that. Is this the kind of profits you shareholders want?"
0:14:58 > 0:14:59The usual business was,
0:14:59 > 0:15:04"You are supporting the regime in South Africa" and we would answer,
0:15:04 > 0:15:05"But we are not."
0:15:05 > 0:15:11For instance, our branches would deliberately ignore the rules,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13which were that whites had to go to a white cashier
0:15:13 > 0:15:15and blacks had to go to a black cashier.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17And we muddled that up.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24They continued to disrupt the meeting and when they were asked to leave,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26when officials approached them to remove them,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29they lay down on the floor.
0:15:31 > 0:15:38And after two or three years, the great body of people at the AGM
0:15:38 > 0:15:42would get fed up with these people and would start shouting,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45"Enough! Shut up! Go away!"
0:15:45 > 0:15:48We were called "bastards" by a number of people.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53We had no business to be in this place. "Get out and don't come back."
0:15:53 > 0:15:57These were Members of Parliament, Peers of the Realm,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59the gentry.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02They were all supposed to be well-mannered people.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05They were just... It was like a bear garden.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Have to admit, though, that we enjoyed provoking them!
0:16:09 > 0:16:11# Money makes the world go around
0:16:11 > 0:16:14# The world go around The world go around
0:16:14 > 0:16:16# Money makes the world go around
0:16:16 > 0:16:19# It makes the world go round
0:16:19 > 0:16:22# Money, money, money Money, money, money
0:16:22 > 0:16:24# Money, money, money, huh! #
0:16:43 > 0:16:44US banks
0:16:44 > 0:16:46were a major player at particularly strategic points
0:16:46 > 0:16:48in South Africa's history. For example,
0:16:48 > 0:16:54in 1960, right after the Sharpeville Massacre,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Citibank and some other banks lent money to the South African government,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02in an effort to "stabilise the economy".
0:17:02 > 0:17:05These were major US banks - Citibank, Chase Manhattan,
0:17:05 > 0:17:10Bank of America - participating in this revolving loan
0:17:10 > 0:17:12to the South African government.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16# Two, four, six, eight Don't support a fascist state! #
0:17:16 > 0:17:20Our goal was to try to affect public opinion, to try to get the bank
0:17:20 > 0:17:24to recognise that a lot of people cared.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33One of the hardest things that we faced in the early years of the bank campaign
0:17:33 > 0:17:36was the challenge of...
0:17:36 > 0:17:42helping people understand that they could affect what international banks did.
0:17:42 > 0:17:48These were citadels of multi-national power and of financial power.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52The normal person in the street had no thought whatsoever of being able
0:17:52 > 0:17:57to affect the activities of an international bank.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02It just seemed like moving the biggest rock in the world.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20I think if one looks at the pressure on Barclays,
0:18:20 > 0:18:25the worrying thing to us was the student accounts.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27If you've got students' account,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29almost certainly they would be
0:18:29 > 0:18:32the leaders of the country in the future and important to it.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36So if you could, so to speak, nab them then, there was a sporting chance
0:18:36 > 0:18:40you would retain their accounts for their lifetime and they would be
0:18:40 > 0:18:42the shakers and movers of society.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46That gave us the opportunity of going to students,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48where there were Barclays branches on campuses,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51and tell people not to bank with Barclays.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00We used to have mass account withdrawals,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03so you would get a students' union to go in
0:19:03 > 0:19:06en bloc and withdraw their accounts.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16My daughter was a graduate student at Cambridge
0:19:16 > 0:19:19and like the good daughter of a Barclays director in South Africa,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21opened an account with Barclays Bank,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25got a cheque book and then walked into her local store in Cambridge and wrote out a cheque.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28The storekeeper said, "I won't take the Barclays cheque."
0:19:30 > 0:19:34That brought it home to me how intense the pressure was.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49Back in America, the pressure was beginning to have an impact, too.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52We decided to form a committee
0:19:52 > 0:19:56to try to decide what was the right thing to do.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Polaroid concluded that they WOULD remain in South Africa,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05but that they would launch a programme to improve conditions
0:20:05 > 0:20:06for their workers.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09The Polaroid Experiment was establishing
0:20:09 > 0:20:12an educational foundation, establishing training classes,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15realign the wage scales.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20Also, we said that our distributor was going to stop selling products to the government.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25Polaroid became the first company doing business in South Africa
0:20:25 > 0:20:28to publicly denounce apartheid.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33We've been able to take what is a tiny activity and convert it into
0:20:33 > 0:20:35a presence for doing a great deal of good.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39We didn't buy it. We saw it as a strategy to try to take people
0:20:39 > 0:20:42from paying attention to Polaroid's critical role in South Africa.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44So Caroline and Ken took their case
0:20:44 > 0:20:48to the United Nations Committee on Apartheid.
0:20:48 > 0:20:54The Polaroid Experiment is an insult to any persons working for the liberation of black South Africa.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57The very next week, on the anniversary of that day,
0:20:57 > 0:20:59at the same hour, I was brought in and given my letter.
0:21:01 > 0:21:07I was fired for "misconduct detrimental to the best interests" of a corporation.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09Actually, firing me was
0:21:09 > 0:21:12the worst thing they should have done, in terms of helping their cause,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15because now I had 24 hours to work on the campaign.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18What happened here began as a family dispute,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20but the problem is being debated at the United Nations,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24congressional hearings are scheduled for later this year
0:21:24 > 0:21:27and every company and country with a vested interest in South Africa
0:21:27 > 0:21:29is watching the Polaroid Experiment closely,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32hoping to find a stance that would be acceptable
0:21:32 > 0:21:34economically and morally.
0:21:36 > 0:21:41I felt that South Africa was getting a raw deal.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45We believed that something had to be done to counter the efforts
0:21:45 > 0:21:49of people who were very effective in pushing the sanctions idea.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56A Department of Information was created,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59parallel to our Department of Foreign Affairs.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04And that department was a propaganda department.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07'Expensively produced kits like these, about 13,000 of them,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10'have been sent to schools free of charge.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12'The kit includes a slide presentation.'
0:22:12 > 0:22:18'We have made this transition with our programme of multi-national development, known as apartheid..."
0:22:18 > 0:22:22'..Where our black people can control their own destinies,
0:22:22 > 0:22:27'protected by law from the exploitations of others, including whites.'
0:22:27 > 0:22:34'We think of our programme of multi-national development as an enlightened programme.'
0:22:34 > 0:22:40If only we can convince the world about the complexities of the South African situation.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44If it can only explain to us our goodwill,
0:22:44 > 0:22:50the world will understand and we will be reunited with the world.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57So they arranged major investment conferences,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59bringing top American business people
0:22:59 > 0:23:02speaking out in favour of staying in South Africa.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10They brought thousands of people to South Africa -
0:23:10 > 0:23:13Americans, British, German people, Japanese people.
0:23:18 > 0:23:25And I had 50, 100, more times, to lunch with these people,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29to explain the merit of this policy.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Now, many of these people
0:23:32 > 0:23:35have a glorious holiday in South Africa...
0:23:38 > 0:23:41..and some of them were then kind enough to say,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45"Yes, now we understand the complexity
0:23:45 > 0:23:47"of the South African situation."
0:23:47 > 0:23:51And that was regarded as huge progress.
0:23:51 > 0:23:52GUNFIRE
0:23:56 > 0:23:58Then, Soweto happened.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08It was very difficult for us to explain, to a world that was
0:24:08 > 0:24:12extremely unreceptive to anything good out of South Africa,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14that this was just a little problem.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16GUNFIRE
0:24:23 > 0:24:26'There was a huge riot today in South Africa,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29'in a black suburb of Johannesburg.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33'Possibly 10,000 young blacks rioted against government policy.'
0:24:33 > 0:24:37'South Africa's worst racial disorder in 16 years still appears to be out of control,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40'as angry mobs roam the streets of Soweto.'
0:24:43 > 0:24:47GUNFIRE
0:24:50 > 0:24:53GUNFIRE
0:25:10 > 0:25:14Soweto galvanised the anti-apartheid movement
0:25:14 > 0:25:16and built the pressures on companies.
0:25:16 > 0:25:22# Soweto blues
0:25:22 > 0:25:26# Soweto blues. #
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Soweto enabled us as campaigners to say,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31"Look here, we told you what was going on.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34"We told you there was a serious problem here
0:25:34 > 0:25:36"and now they're shooting children."
0:25:36 > 0:25:40# ..And all the children Soweto blues. #
0:25:40 > 0:25:43'..and it is a time when you have got to start saying,
0:25:43 > 0:25:47' "Yes, we can do something about this. We can challenge Barclays Bank,
0:25:47 > 0:25:52' "we can challenge National Westminster Bank, "we can challenge Shell." '
0:25:52 > 0:25:54'Students became political again.
0:25:54 > 0:26:00'They demonstrated against investment in South Africa on over 100 campuses across the country,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04'demanding that their universities sell whatever stock they held in companies that did business
0:26:04 > 0:26:09'with South Africa. Several universities did just that.'
0:26:09 > 0:26:12CHANTING: Freedom, yes! Apartheid, no!
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Freedom, yes! Apartheid, no!
0:26:14 > 0:26:17The Polaroid Corporation's announcement earlier this week
0:26:17 > 0:26:20that it was ending the sale of its products in South Africa
0:26:20 > 0:26:23because of the country's racial policies
0:26:23 > 0:26:25is expected to have a major impact there.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29'The withdrawal, the first time an American company has pulled out
0:26:29 > 0:26:33'for political reasons, marks the loss of an important foreign client
0:26:33 > 0:26:35'in South Africa.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40'The Polaroid move comes at a sensitive time, as American companies in general
0:26:40 > 0:26:43'are reviewing their operations in South Africa.'
0:26:43 > 0:26:44The question raised was,
0:26:44 > 0:26:50"OK, you want Polaroid out and that's it, guys, right? That's the end of the story.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52"You wrap up and go out of business?"
0:26:52 > 0:26:55We said, "No, we're just getting ready to fight."
0:26:55 > 0:26:59"If it happens to Polaroid in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
0:26:59 > 0:27:04"it's going to happen to GE, it's going to happen to General Motors.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07"Everyone is going to be in line."
0:27:12 > 0:27:16There were forces all over the world combining and we knew
0:27:16 > 0:27:22moving towards applying full sanctions against South Africa.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29We, at the time, felt that the gloves were off and the only way
0:27:29 > 0:27:34we could promote South Africa properly, and effectively,
0:27:34 > 0:27:36was through covert methods.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40The South Africans spent 65 million rands,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45that's nearly £40 million, on 170 secret projects, all over the world,
0:27:45 > 0:27:49designed to further their interests and to neutralise their opponents.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52If it was necessary to influence a particular journalist,
0:27:52 > 0:27:57to stop writing anti-South African articles, for example,
0:27:57 > 0:28:02anti-investment articles, if it was necessary for me to send him
0:28:02 > 0:28:04to Hawaii with his girlfriend for a month,
0:28:04 > 0:28:06then I should be able to do so,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09for a month's holiday, at our expense.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Hardly a day now passes without new allegations being made
0:28:13 > 0:28:17that the South African government paid politicians, paid journalists,
0:28:17 > 0:28:21paid labour unions, for various services,
0:28:21 > 0:28:25that they helped fund Jimmy Carter's Primary campaign in New York state,
0:28:25 > 0:28:30that they helped fund a group of pro-South African MPs in Norway,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33that they started newspapers and, more insidiously,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37tried to buy their way into existing newspapers, to change their political stance.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43We bought the Sacramento Union
0:28:43 > 0:28:47and we were looking at the Washington Star.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52We purchased 50% of the shares in UPI/ITV,
0:28:52 > 0:28:54which distributes news form
0:28:54 > 0:28:58to about 100 countries all over the world.
0:28:58 > 0:29:03It was a very successful project, if I may say so myself.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Now, is that unusual? No.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09Does the CIA do it? I hope so.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11They've got properties around the world.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13If a certain organisation, for example,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17was trying to get companies to disinvest and withdraw
0:29:17 > 0:29:23investments in South Africa, then obviously, we would put people
0:29:23 > 0:29:27in that field and we would send out notices, cancelling the meeting.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31We were collecting signatures and,
0:29:31 > 0:29:35suddenly, we were getting sent back wodges of petitions
0:29:35 > 0:29:36and when we looked,
0:29:36 > 0:29:40the petition had been rewritten.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43It was all put in straight, kind of, East-West conflict,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46that this was something the Communist countries were doing,
0:29:46 > 0:29:50making out that what we were after was a Communist South Africa.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54The anti-apartheid movement, in Britain, in particular,
0:29:54 > 0:29:56was a great pain in the neck to us.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01They managed to almost burn down our offices.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05Someone poured diesel fuel through the front door,
0:30:05 > 0:30:08then petrol and lighted rags.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12And we arrived in the offices
0:30:12 > 0:30:15and there was a huge hole burnt in the floor.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17What is the morality of doing that?
0:30:17 > 0:30:20If you found yourself in the position that we found ourselves,
0:30:20 > 0:30:24that we had no voice in the General Assembly of the United Nations
0:30:24 > 0:30:27or any important forum in the world, when it came to the future survival
0:30:27 > 0:30:32of South Africa then, of course, rules and regulations don't apply.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35And then, I think morality flies out of the window.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44South African Intelligence had this kind of target list,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47which was key people involved in anti-apartheid.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50So there was some of us, like Bob Hughes, who was an MP then,
0:30:50 > 0:30:52and myself, who were British.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56But the South Africans, Ruth First was on it.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58And of course, Ruth was killed.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06This parcel bomb came and exploded and killed her.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12And you began to think,
0:31:12 > 0:31:17how safe were you, how much care did you have to take?
0:31:22 > 0:31:25There was a need for another push.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29Nelson Mandela was still in jail, people were still in exile,
0:31:29 > 0:31:33and I decided I should try to end it and I should try to end it my way.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38I saw that I wasn't going to be able to bring out all the companies,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41so I had to find a way to use the strength of the companies
0:31:41 > 0:31:44to change the conditions to what I wanted.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50For a year and a half, I had meetings with corporate executives, to forge
0:31:50 > 0:31:54an agreement on a set of principles for doing business in South Africa.
0:31:54 > 0:31:59And out came what is known as The Sullivan Principles.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05Equal rights for blacks, upgrading of blacks, education for blacks,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08internally and externally.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12I said, these little six lines
0:32:12 > 0:32:17are going to help change South Africa and end apartheid.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20And it is going to be done with the help of God
0:32:20 > 0:32:24and the strength of corporate power.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27Corporate power. And your prayers.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34We are in South Africa, we have been there
0:32:34 > 0:32:35for more than 50 years.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37We are trying to improve things
0:32:37 > 0:32:39in South Africa for the people
0:32:39 > 0:32:41in South Africa, for all the people.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44General Motors, in the last six months,
0:32:44 > 0:32:46ran a series of ads in South African newspapers,
0:32:46 > 0:32:49encouraging people to buy General Motors' cars,
0:32:49 > 0:32:53in exchange for which, for each General Motors car purchased,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56General Motors of South Africa would make a contribution
0:32:56 > 0:33:01to the rest and relaxation fund of the South African defence forces.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05So for us to talk about General Motors as doing so much for black people in South Africa
0:33:05 > 0:33:07because they integrated the bathrooms
0:33:07 > 0:33:09is precisely the kind of irrelevancy
0:33:09 > 0:33:11that I have been trying to talk about.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16Making changes in their workplace was not changing the system.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19They were simply creating a safe haven -
0:33:19 > 0:33:21when somebody came to work.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23They still walked out that gate
0:33:23 > 0:33:26as a person without a vote, without real rights.
0:33:26 > 0:33:31Those same companies that were Sullivan signatories were paying
0:33:31 > 0:33:3652 times in taxes to the South African apartheid regime
0:33:36 > 0:33:40as much as they were spending on Sullivan Principle programmes.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44Those programs had a minute, minute impact, compared to
0:33:44 > 0:33:47the ongoing impact of living under apartheid.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58The Sullivan Principles were extremely useful
0:33:58 > 0:34:00for the South African government,
0:34:00 > 0:34:05because it was a change of strategy on the part of an influential
0:34:05 > 0:34:09African-American, who decided that he could work within the system,
0:34:09 > 0:34:15as long as American companies conformed to his principles.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18South Africa was under substantial international pressure
0:34:18 > 0:34:22at that stage and anything which was seen to alleviate that pressure was
0:34:22 > 0:34:25welcomed, particularly if it wasn't anything which was viewed
0:34:25 > 0:34:27as subversive, or overtly political.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Corporations could now point to a moral reason
0:34:34 > 0:34:38for remaining in South Africa. Within a year,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42most of Europe had adopted codes remarkably similar to Sullivan's -
0:34:42 > 0:34:47The European Codes of Conduct, with many notable adherents.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54In our statement of business principles in South Africa,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57it says that we are the enemies of racism.
0:34:57 > 0:34:59One of the worst things about the system
0:34:59 > 0:35:03is that black people went to work in other places in South Africa
0:35:03 > 0:35:06and couldn't take their families.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09We built family houses.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12Beautiful village, you can go and see.
0:35:12 > 0:35:17Schools and clubs. So by being there, we did a lot of good.
0:35:19 > 0:35:25Oil. The one area where South Africa was even more vulnerable.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31Multinational oil companies became a key target
0:35:31 > 0:35:34for the anti-apartheid movements.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38In South Africa, they got all sorts of things,
0:35:38 > 0:35:41silver and gold and diamonds and wolfram
0:35:41 > 0:35:47and titanium and lead and zinc, but no oil. So it's all imported.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52The Shell company had a commercial slogan
0:35:52 > 0:35:55here in the Netherlands, "Shell helps".
0:35:55 > 0:35:58So we could immediately use that - "Shell helps apartheid" -
0:35:58 > 0:36:00and we could prove it.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05They had to offer their facilities for the police
0:36:05 > 0:36:08and military to use, if there was a state of emergency.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12And they had to help the government build up a strategic oil stockpile
0:36:12 > 0:36:14to help defend itself against the oil embargo.
0:36:26 > 0:36:31So, we told Shell that they should get out and Shell said, "We can't."
0:36:31 > 0:36:35Once you are there, you are caught. You cannot take a pipeline
0:36:35 > 0:36:38or a refinery with you, like a shipping company,
0:36:38 > 0:36:40you can't sail away.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Once we are there, we are the prisoners of our investment.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48We pushed in the churches that if Shell was not willing to
0:36:48 > 0:36:51withdraw, then people should begin to boycott the Shell products.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56And that made us very angry.
0:36:57 > 0:37:03It was grossly unfair, and into ridiculous detail he went,
0:37:03 > 0:37:08for instance, the pension fund of the clergy in this country
0:37:08 > 0:37:13was no longer allowed to deal in Royal Dutch shares.
0:37:13 > 0:37:19They sell them, I trust, at a profit, but never mind, they sell them.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22They wouldn't have anything to do with a devilish outfit.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25We did give Shell a very hard time.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39And they were worried that we actually were targeting them.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44And picketing Shell garages was hilarious,
0:37:44 > 0:37:46because the managers used to go berserk.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50If you don't mind, get your bloody camera away from me!
0:37:50 > 0:37:56We turned away every single car, but two,
0:37:56 > 0:37:59from that garage during the time we were picketing it.
0:38:04 > 0:38:05I can remember,
0:38:05 > 0:38:07late one evening,
0:38:07 > 0:38:11I got a phone call from a local petrol station owner,
0:38:11 > 0:38:12who was so upset,
0:38:12 > 0:38:14saying that he didn't want to go bankrupt
0:38:14 > 0:38:16because of something happening at the other side
0:38:16 > 0:38:21of the globe and for things that he was not in any way responsible for.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24So in the end, we made a deal with these local people,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27saying that if they put up an anti-apartheid poster,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30saying that Shell should withdraw from South Africa,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34they would be exempted from the boycott, locally.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44Shell Oil might have the money,
0:38:44 > 0:38:45but we have the people,
0:38:45 > 0:38:47and without the people, they can't make the money.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54Well, you know, we've been talking all week long
0:38:54 > 0:38:56about the Shell Oil Company
0:38:56 > 0:38:59providing fuel for the South African military machine,
0:38:59 > 0:39:02and we want you to do something about it.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05Take your Shell credit card and cut it up, literally.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07You could hear that "Kchh-kchh!" over the radio.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12This is Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox. Help end apartheid in South Africa.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15And plenty of listeners are heeding the call.
0:39:20 > 0:39:21I was sitting at my desk
0:39:21 > 0:39:24at the Interface Centre of Corporate Responsibility,
0:39:24 > 0:39:29opening the mail, when a big, fat, unmarked package arrived.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33It was an elaborately developed strategy
0:39:33 > 0:39:38to discredit, to derail and to deflect the boycott.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41It dealt with everything from how to deal with student groups
0:39:41 > 0:39:44to trade unions, to how to undercut momentum
0:39:44 > 0:39:49of the religious community, to how to deal with the black community.
0:39:49 > 0:39:50We don't know who it was,
0:39:50 > 0:39:55but we do know it was somebody inside leaked a copy to us.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59And when it came out and church leaders read about how Shell
0:39:59 > 0:40:03was going to try to dupe them, they were just absolutely furious.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06'Today, the World Council of Churches urged its members to organise
0:40:06 > 0:40:10'boycotts of Shell for supplying South Africa with crude oil and coal.'
0:40:10 > 0:40:15The World Council of Churches had, more than anything else,
0:40:15 > 0:40:17to have a federation of all Protestant
0:40:17 > 0:40:22and Greek Orthodox churches in the world writing a piece of paper,
0:40:22 > 0:40:27a declaration, singling out one corporation in the whole world...
0:40:27 > 0:40:34for embargo, for punishment, called Shell.
0:40:34 > 0:40:39In the name of God and the law of Jesus Christ, that cannot be done.
0:40:39 > 0:40:40Shell never left South Africa.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Don't you encounter things in your life about which you feel
0:40:55 > 0:40:58very bad, that you can't do much about?
0:41:00 > 0:41:04I mean, how holier-than-thou, please, huh?
0:41:04 > 0:41:08We had no option. We had no option.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13The only option was... the only option was to leave.
0:41:13 > 0:41:15Hmm?
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Even though it did not stop the flow of oil to South Africa,
0:41:22 > 0:41:25what the oil embargo did over time
0:41:25 > 0:41:27was to impose an apartheid premium
0:41:27 > 0:41:31on every barrel of oil that South Africa imported.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36'The white man in South Africa is feeling the pinch.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41'Last week, petrol prices went up by more than 40% overnight,
0:41:41 > 0:41:43'threatening many a lavish lifestyle.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45'For some people, nothing is going right.'
0:41:45 > 0:41:48The petrol, we can't afford it at all.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51The worst thing that has happened to me all year.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55This is worse than Tutu getting the Peace Prize...really.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01It's estimated that that embargo cost the South African government
0:42:01 > 0:42:08more than 20 billion between 1979 and 1985.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12And that is a particularly interesting number, 20 billion,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16because it is the approximate amount of South Africa's foreign debt.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20South Africa was living on foreign loans.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23The entire stability of the South African currency
0:42:23 > 0:42:24was based on support
0:42:24 > 0:42:26they were getting on the basis of these loans.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32It became clear to us that if you can stop
0:42:32 > 0:42:35outside banks lending to South Africa,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38which kept the whole apartheid system rolling
0:42:38 > 0:42:40and meant they were able to
0:42:40 > 0:42:43develop economically, if you could cut off
0:42:43 > 0:42:47that flow of blood, really, into the apartheid system,
0:42:47 > 0:42:49then it would soon begin to wither.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55The banks would say, "But if we withdraw,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58"the whole society will collapse." And we were saying,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01"Well, that probably is what it's going to take."
0:43:01 > 0:43:03CHANTING
0:43:03 > 0:43:07In 1983, the mood in South Africa changed.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18Under the banner of the newly-formed United Democratic Front,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22opposition to the apartheid regime stepped up a gear.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29Suddenly, the struggle became of a different nature.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31Here you could see something
0:43:31 > 0:43:33which really had a capacity to change things.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38On the ground in our country,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41the masses of South Africans had just reached a point
0:43:41 > 0:43:45where it was impossible to, in fact, through sheer brute force,
0:43:45 > 0:43:47suppress people.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52We want all of our rights, and we want them here and we want them now!
0:43:52 > 0:43:55CHEERING
0:43:58 > 0:44:01'The United Democratic Front was formed in August 1983
0:44:01 > 0:44:03'as an umbrella organisation
0:44:03 > 0:44:08'unifying some 700 groups opposed to separate racial development.'
0:44:11 > 0:44:15And every aspect impinged on the business community.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17Militant trade unionism...
0:44:18 > 0:44:20..consumer boycotts,
0:44:20 > 0:44:22civil unrest in the townships,
0:44:22 > 0:44:24therefore, you can't make deliveries of your goods.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33South Africa became increasingly ungovernable
0:44:33 > 0:44:37and, internationally, the anti-apartheid movement took off.
0:44:43 > 0:44:48# We are not isolated by distance
0:44:48 > 0:44:51# But by greed and our racist history. #
0:44:51 > 0:44:56Suddenly, all that work that we'd done on Barclays or picketing supermarkets came to fruition.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Up until then, people hadn't seen quite what effect,
0:44:59 > 0:45:02how that would really make a difference,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05whereas now, they could see that it meant something.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07# When the system starts to crack
0:45:07 > 0:45:11# We'll have to be ready to give it all back. #
0:45:12 > 0:45:13The papers were full
0:45:13 > 0:45:17and the television screens were full of pictures
0:45:17 > 0:45:19of huge demonstrations in South Africa...
0:45:24 > 0:45:28..and the very vicious response by the South African government.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Remember, the government was telling the world
0:45:38 > 0:45:41that things were changing, that they were gentle.
0:45:42 > 0:45:43And yet they came down with an iron fist.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53On Saturday, the country's State President, P W Botha,
0:45:53 > 0:45:56declared a state of emergency in South Africa.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59The township riots, he said, must stop.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03In South Africa today,
0:46:03 > 0:46:07military sources recorded
0:46:07 > 0:46:12that a peaceful compromise cannot be reached!
0:46:12 > 0:46:16We must maintain control!
0:46:24 > 0:46:27'Increasingly there was concern in the bank
0:46:27 > 0:46:30'with the apartheid policies of South Africa.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34'There were two elements in my mind,
0:46:34 > 0:46:38'on the one hand abhorrence with apartheid,
0:46:38 > 0:46:42'but also there was, and I have to be honest about this,
0:46:42 > 0:46:44'a clear business reason.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48'The forces in the world who isolate South Africa
0:46:48 > 0:46:52'was making it less and less credit-worthy.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55'The country was becoming "unbankable."
0:46:55 > 0:46:58'And I wanted out.'
0:47:01 > 0:47:03Because of the activities of the UDF
0:47:03 > 0:47:07Chase Manhattan got nervous about the state of emergency.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11They asked themselves what were the chances of their loans being repaid
0:47:11 > 0:47:16in a country that looked like it was about to go up in smoke
0:47:16 > 0:47:20and Chase did the economically, as well as politically, prudent thing
0:47:20 > 0:47:22of deciding not to roll over its loans.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25And when Chase Manhattan,
0:47:25 > 0:47:28Mr Butcher, started butchering us,
0:47:28 > 0:47:31it was like a domino effect.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34'First thing this morning the rand was plummeting,
0:47:34 > 0:47:37'down five cents against the dollar in less than an hour.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40'One dealer busy dumping the South African currency
0:47:40 > 0:47:42'called trading "hectic and disorderly".'
0:47:42 > 0:47:45I'm just busy, I'll come back.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48'The selling is principally from the United States, Britain and France.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51'Investors are jittery over the increasing financial
0:47:51 > 0:47:54'and diplomatic isolation of South Africa.'
0:47:54 > 0:47:57The one thing we couldn't manufacture was dollars
0:47:57 > 0:47:59and Deutschmarks.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02That we couldn't.
0:48:02 > 0:48:09And that eventually became the Achilles heel of the whole economy.
0:48:15 > 0:48:16'In about an hour's time
0:48:16 > 0:48:19'the President of South Africa, Mr PW Botha,
0:48:19 > 0:48:21'will begin a speech in Durban City Hall.'
0:48:23 > 0:48:24The speech is being billed
0:48:24 > 0:48:27as the most significant in South Africa for many years.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31It was a very dangerous situation.
0:48:32 > 0:48:33But here was something
0:48:33 > 0:48:35of great importance,
0:48:35 > 0:48:37that would be a watershed
0:48:37 > 0:48:41in a very positive and constructive sense of the word.
0:48:41 > 0:48:47That speech was a kind of turning point in South Africa's history.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51I believe that we are today crossing the Rubicon in South Africa.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56There can be no turning back.
0:48:56 > 0:49:01It was supposed to be a rather reform-orientated speech,
0:49:01 > 0:49:04but he was in a bad mood that evening.
0:49:04 > 0:49:09South Africans' problems will be solved by South Africans
0:49:09 > 0:49:10and not by foreigners.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:49:19 > 0:49:22We are not going to be deterred from doing what we think best,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26nor will we be forced into doing what we don't want to do.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30I just knew that this was a major disaster,
0:49:30 > 0:49:34and we would feel the negative impact almost immediately
0:49:34 > 0:49:35and we did.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38It devastated the economy.
0:49:43 > 0:49:49All our creditors want their money back and we could not supply it.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53Like your mortgage holder
0:49:53 > 0:49:56telling you tomorrow, I want to have full payment of that mortgage
0:49:56 > 0:49:58otherwise your house is mine.
0:49:58 > 0:50:04And it created the most serious financial crisis for South Africa.
0:50:05 > 0:50:11If there was really a time that I and my colleagues was scared,
0:50:11 > 0:50:17it was the second half of August/September of 1985.
0:50:17 > 0:50:23Because we realised that we are all nearly bankrupt.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27I felt enormously related, enormously happy.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31Like one of the major occasions.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35I myself personally came to the conclusion when I heard this
0:50:35 > 0:50:38that this was the end, we are now seeing the end of apartheid.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45The South African government had no way out.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57Finance is the lifeblood of any company.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00The international banks were very important.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04To have that arbitrarily cut off was a devastating blow.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13Three South African business leaders
0:51:13 > 0:51:16flew to the neighbouring country of Zambia today
0:51:16 > 0:51:19for unprecedented talks on the future of their country
0:51:19 > 0:51:22with black guerrilla leaders outlawed by the South African Government.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26The businessmen, who control much of South Africa's vast wealth,
0:51:26 > 0:51:28were acting independently of their government.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32The African National Congress has been banned as a terrorist organisation.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38I had the conventional view of the ANC as the devil incarnate,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41white-hating, murderous, terrorist, Communists,
0:51:41 > 0:51:43Moscow-dominated puppets.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45This was the common perception of them.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49'The meeting was held behind the closed gates of a game reserve in Eastern Zambia.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54'The white businessmen represented the highest levels of South Africa's non-government power structure.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56'A year ago it would have been unthinkable
0:51:56 > 0:51:59'and indicates business' deep concern
0:51:59 > 0:52:00'that the end is coming.'
0:52:02 > 0:52:05The meeting started off, I suppose,
0:52:05 > 0:52:08with a lot of reserve on everyone's part.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Naturally, the South African businessmen
0:52:11 > 0:52:13gravitated towards one side of the circle
0:52:13 > 0:52:16and the ANC on the other side of the circle,
0:52:16 > 0:52:17and the ice was broken
0:52:17 > 0:52:19when Oliver Tambo made some quip about the division,
0:52:19 > 0:52:22the apartheid of the seating arrangements, if you like,
0:52:22 > 0:52:25at which stage everybody burst out laughing and we mixed in.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27Then there were the,
0:52:27 > 0:52:29one, I suppose, would call them,
0:52:29 > 0:52:33thick cobwebs of incomprehension and misunderstanding...
0:52:35 > 0:52:37about where WE were coming from.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41The ANC executive, at least half of them,
0:52:41 > 0:52:44were members of the South African Communist Party.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46We were concerned about this -
0:52:46 > 0:52:48we're businessmen, we're capitalists,
0:52:48 > 0:52:51we believe in the Western democratic systems,
0:52:51 > 0:52:52private initiative,
0:52:52 > 0:52:54all these sorts of things.
0:52:54 > 0:52:58But they said that the Communists on the ANC executive
0:52:58 > 0:53:02were ANC members first, and Communist Party members second
0:53:02 > 0:53:05and that ANC was not a Communist organisation.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09They used Sweden as an example of a model democracy.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11I was surprised at that.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14We ate our lunch sitting on a wall, very informally,
0:53:14 > 0:53:16chatting about things in South Africa.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19It was obvious to me the ANC had an overwhelming nostalgia
0:53:19 > 0:53:22to return to South Africa, which they were then unable to do.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26They talked about places they had been in as kids,
0:53:26 > 0:53:28had grown up in.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32And I found it very easy to like them, on a personal level.
0:53:35 > 0:53:40The meeting with the businessmen de-demonised the ANC.
0:53:40 > 0:53:46After that meeting, the business community was convinced
0:53:46 > 0:53:51that they can risk the democratisation of South Africa.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54No question that it was the turning point.
0:53:54 > 0:53:55We lit the fuse
0:53:55 > 0:53:57and then it just ran from thereon.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02Meetings with the ANC then became, over a period of 18 months, flavour of the month.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09Of course, Botha was furious at that stage. There was this attitude -
0:54:09 > 0:54:14nobody in South Africa should talk to these murderers.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19Irrespective of the international consequences,
0:54:19 > 0:54:22we will not be untrue to our forefathers,
0:54:22 > 0:54:23to our beliefs, to our values.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26Come what may, we will resist
0:54:26 > 0:54:30these diabolical forces. It doesn't matter what is the cost.
0:54:30 > 0:54:32Good evening.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35One of Britain's biggest investors in South Africa, Barclays Bank,
0:54:35 > 0:54:37have announced they're selling up.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40It's the largest pull-out of foreign business to date in South Africa,
0:54:40 > 0:54:44which has already seen seven major American corporations withdraw.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47From the white minority government's point of view,
0:54:47 > 0:54:49this is the most ominous pull-out yet.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Barclays say the decision's been taken for largely commercial reasons,
0:54:53 > 0:54:56although they concede that years of campaigning
0:54:56 > 0:54:59by anti-apartheid groups has also been a factor.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01CHANTING
0:55:04 > 0:55:07The Boycott Barclays campaign, a lot of people said,
0:55:07 > 0:55:11"Oh, it's just a pathetic kind of gesture and it wouldn't made any change,"
0:55:11 > 0:55:14but as a result, Barclays lost £7 billion-worth of business.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16In 1969, I think we
0:55:16 > 0:55:21got about 40% of the total number of new students' accounts going
0:55:21 > 0:55:26in this country. In 1986, we were down to 13%.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28CHEERING
0:55:32 > 0:55:34People were just euphoric.
0:55:38 > 0:55:40It was a great time. We really enjoyed ourselves.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47We converged on a pub and got drunk.
0:55:50 > 0:55:56I'd been campaigning for nearly two decades to get Barclays out.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59I mean, they brought banking to South Africa,
0:55:59 > 0:56:01they developed banking in South Africa.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07And now even the British, even the British,
0:56:07 > 0:56:11with all their historical connections to South Africa,
0:56:11 > 0:56:15even they now were taking their money out.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18Mrs Thatcher took a fairly hard line over the whole thing.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20She would have seen it rather like
0:56:20 > 0:56:21Sir George Gardener.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23that very right wing MP. He rang me up to say
0:56:23 > 0:56:26that we were behaving like miserable curs,
0:56:26 > 0:56:27giving in to pressure.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29Well, up to a point it was true.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33We had a business to run and it was the right business decision to go.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39It was a tremendous victory, it was our first real victory.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46The rush by business to get out of South Africa is becoming a stampede.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48'Foreign money has been leaving South Africa
0:56:48 > 0:56:51'the most spectacular way - disinvestment.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54'Some of the biggest names in business pulled out.'
0:56:54 > 0:56:58'Coming as it does, after disinvestment by big American companies, like IBM...'
0:56:58 > 0:57:00'..reduced or sold their investment in South Africa.'
0:57:00 > 0:57:04'More than 20 companies have divested corporate holdings in South Africa.'
0:57:04 > 0:57:08'The decision was made necessary by the worsening political and economic situation.'
0:57:08 > 0:57:10The Ford Motor Company is shifting gears
0:57:10 > 0:57:12and backing out of South Africa.
0:57:16 > 0:57:23By the time Nelson Mandela was freed in 1990, 155 US corporations,
0:57:23 > 0:57:2598 British companies,
0:57:25 > 0:57:29and more than 100 from other countries had left South Africa.
0:57:34 > 0:57:39The real thing that harmed South Africa was disinvestment,
0:57:39 > 0:57:42the withdrawal of investment from South Africa.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47In you can isolate an open economy such as ours,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50it's really like standing on somebody's oxygen pipe.
0:57:50 > 0:57:55The fact that they couldn't just go outside of South Africa and do business
0:57:55 > 0:57:58actually made them think about what was happening in their country
0:57:58 > 0:58:00and that maybe they had to do something about it.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07I think it's important for people to realise that you can make an effort
0:58:07 > 0:58:09and you can make a change,
0:58:09 > 0:58:12even though your part of it will be very small.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15It's a drop in the ocean, but the ocean is made of drops.
0:58:50 > 0:58:53Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd