TRC Final Report

Volume 4

Chapter 2

Subsection 14

155 Professor Terreblanche argues that a wealth tax would contribute to reconciliation, social stability and economic growth, while providing a basis for restitution for those who have been impoverished through apartheid.

156 Mr Bob Tucker, executive director of the Banking Council, argued (without being mandated to do so by members of the Banking Council) that business should contribute to “reconstruction and development” rather than a reparations fund. This, he said, should be motivated not by a “sense of guilt” but out of “enlightened self-interest”. He further appealed to individuals “on the basis of their humanity and sense of compassion (not guilt), to contribute as individuals to a reparation fund to benefit those who were direct and evident victims of the atrocities that were committed at the time.”²⁶

157 More recently, Mr Stephen Mulholland, a former editor of the Financial Mail and currently a Business Times columnist, has argued that each company listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange should give up 1 per cent of its market capitalisation and contribute it to a huge new fund. He suggests that the fund should be run by business and would represent a dramatic and once only contribution by corporate South Africa to redressing the past and the development of a new country. Mr Mulholland commented: “Portfolios routinely move up and down with the market by a great deal more than 1 per cent. The market would hardly notice it.” His proposal would raise R14 billion.

158 The virtue or otherwise of the above proposals must be left to experts in the field to assess. The extent to which voluntary responses of the kind suggested by Mr Tucker are likely to prove sufficient to address the problem facing the nation needs at least to be questioned. It may be that the Terreblanche and Tucker options are not mutually exclusive. The Mulholland proposal suggests a bold initiative by corporate South Africa. The virtue of the proposal is that it would remove some of the pressure on the state to introduce legislation or further taxation. It would also be a welcome signal from corporate South Africa that it understands and accepts its own responsibility for the past and its commitment to stability and justice in the future.

159 There is no doubt that business could and should play an enormously creative role in the development of new reconstruction and development programmes. Funding for this could come from business itself (as in the Mulholland proposal), from the state (as in the Terreblanche proposal), from loans or from a combination of these.

160 An alarming gap exists between rich and poor in South Africa. This is aggravated by the fact that wealth and poverty are very largely defined in racial terms. The perpetuation of the gap – indeed its possible widening in a pressured economic environment – is a very real threat to peace and stability. It is in the interest of the private and the public sector alike to ensure that this situation is redressed. Economic logic suggests that, while more than 60 per cent of the population remains impoverished, there is no possibility of meaningful economic growth or national stability. If a wealth tax is not the way forward, then some other measures should be sought and implemented as a matter of urgency.

■ FINDINGS ARISING OUT OF BUSINESS SECTOR HEARINGS

The Commission finds that:

161 Business was central to the economy that sustained the South African state during the apartheid years. Certain businesses, especially the mining industry, were involved in helping to design and implement apartheid policies. Other businesses benefited from co-operating with the security structures of the former state. Most businesses benefited from operating in a racially structured context.

162 Businesses were reluctant to speak about their involvement in the former homelands. A submission by Mr Sol Kerzner and Sun International would have facilitated the work of the Commission.

163 The Land Bank and the Development Bank of South Africa, in particular, were directly involved in sustaining the existence of former homelands.

164 The denial of trade union rights to black workers constituted a violation of human rights. Actions taken against trade unions by the state, at times with the cooperation of certain businesses, frequently led to gross human rights violations.

165 The mining industry not only benefited from migratory labour and the payment of low wages to black employees; it also failed to give sufficient attention to the health and safety concerns of its employees.

166 Business failed in the hearings to take responsibility for its involvement in state security initiatives specifically designed to sustain apartheid rule. This included involvement in the National Security Management System. Several businesses, in turn, benefited directly from their involvement in the complex web that constituted the military industry.

167 The white agricultural industry benefited from its privileged access to land. In most instances, it failed to provide adequate facilities and services for employees and their dependants.