Revealed: Who funded the Natio

Photo: Die Burger/Media24

Revealed: Who funded the National Party?

Newly obtained information reveals some of the high profile names that supported the National Party during the country’s apartheid days.

Revealed: Who funded the Natio

Photo: Die Burger/Media24

Not that you didn’t know it already, but the Daily Maverick is a must read today.

It features an intriguing piece from Open Secrets, which sheds some light on who was propping up the National Party during the country’s apartheid years.

While researching the recently published book Apartheid, Guns and Money: A Tale of Profit, Open Secrets collected approximately 40,000 archival documents from 25 archives in seven countries.

Amongst the documents, details of individuals and corporations that propped up apartheid and profited in return. Many of these documents were kept secret until now.

The article contains copies of letters of correspondence obtained from PW Botha’s and FW de Klerk’s archives. Signed cheques, fawning letters of thanks and promises of anonymity that secretive party funding demands are all amongst them, according to Open Secrets. Around 70 individual donors were identified.

It’s kind of like a GuptaLeaks throwback.

So, who funded and supported the National Party?

The names published by Daily Maverick isn’t all that extensive – Open Secrets say it is still waiting for some of their requests to be complied with, but it notes a few interesting supporters and donors. These names are amongst them.

  • a R50 000 donation from Barlow Rand (now trading as the large conglomerate, Barloworld)
  • Shoprite businessman, Christo Wiese
  • PG Glass executive chairman, Bertie Lubner
  • Altech (now electronics giant Altron) head, WP (Bill) Venter.

Did all of them make donations?

From the current information, it is not clear whether all of the names listed made financial contributions or even how much. Lubner, for example, wrote a letter to PW Botha  saying how much he admires Botha’s leadership and mentions “assisting in a small way”.

Part of the letter reads:

“It is men with such high ideals and determination like yourself that create history and I am delighted to have the privilege of being able to in a very small way assist and support you in your endeavours”.

Venter is one of the names on the list who, according to Open Secrets, made hefty donations to the NP. According to the report,  in 1982 he pledged R150,000 (R2.4-million in today’s terms) with promises of more to come. In 1985 and 1989 with generous donations of R200,000 (R2.2-million in today’s terms).

You can read the full article and see the letters on The Daily Maverick.

Open Secrets is an independent non-profit with a mission to promote private sector accountability for economic crime and related human rights violations in Southern Africa.