The great achievement of Clem Sunter, who has died aged 89, was to break the intellectual logjam that had paralysed the South African political discourse in the early 1980s.
On the one side, the “right” was the National Party government and its supporters, determined to maintain apartheid but also claiming to be capitalists fighting communism. On the other side, the “left” offered a “struggle” that included revolutionary Marxist solutions. The economy was held hostage to slogans.
Sunter and his team shifted the national priority from what to think to how to think, from predictions to processes — the scenario approach. They spoke to everyone from the NP cabinet to Nelson Mandela in prison, to chambers of commerce and book club meetings. He recalled that “our presentations truly changed the conversation from one of pessimism and civil war to considering the high road of negotiation”.
Sunter could not have achieved this if he had not been an executive at the formidable Anglo American Corp, which was by far the dominant player in the economy. Anglo in those days understood the importance of building a profound social and political influence beyond generating returns for shareholders.
But the new Anglo is not capable of playing such a role, nor is it interested. No other company has taken its place, and the country is much the poorer for that.
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