As soon as Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years, and with apartheid still in place, UK officials were lobbying him for their business interests in South Africa, declassified files show.
British officials feared Nelson Mandela would nationalise South Africa’s economy and lobbied him to protect British commercial interests as soon as he gained freedom.
The UK’s Foreign Office set out to “educate” the African leader with “sensible” economic policies and to counter “the absurdity of nationalisation”, declassified files show.
British fears were sparked one month before Mandela’s release from jail.
On 15 January 1990 Mandela issued a statement saying nationalising “the mines, banks and monopoly industries” was the policy of the African National Congress (ANC) – of which he was then deputy president – and that a change in this view was “inconceivable”.
He added that “Black economic empowerment is a goal we fully support and encourage, but in our situation state control of certain sectors of the economy is unavoidable.”
At the time, British firms in South Africa accounted for no less than half of all foreign investment in the country. Prominent among the UK companies were the banks NatWest,
— source markcurtis.info | Mark Curtis | Aug 19, 2023