Anglo American Corporation and the South African State: A contextual analysis of annual reports 1917-1975
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 21 August 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the complex and shifting relationship between the Anglo American Corporation (Anglo) and the South African State (“the State”) as reflected in Anglo’s annual reports.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper builds on research on the role of annual reports in ideological conflict. To examine the ongoing relationship between Anglo and the State, the authors read all the annual reports published by Anglo American from 1917 to 1975, looking for instances in which the corporation appeared to be attempting to address, criticise, compliment, or implore the State.
Findings
During the period under study, despite the apparent struggles between the South African State and Anglo American, the relationship between the two was primarily symbiotic. The symbolic confrontation engaged in by these two behemoths perpetuated the real, physical violence perpetrated on the oppressed workers. By appearing to be a liberal opponent of apartheid, Anglo was able to ensure continued investment in South Africa.
Social implications
The examination of decades’ worth of annual reports provides an example of how these supposedly neutral instruments were used to contest and sustain power. Thereby, Anglo could continue to exploit workers, reap enormous profits, and maintain a fiction of opposition to the oppressive State. The State also benefited from its support of Anglo, which provided a plurality of tax revenue and economic expansion during the period.
Originality/value
This paper provides insights into the ways the State and other institutions sustain each other in the pursuit of economic and political power in the face of visible and widely condemned injustices. Although they frequently contested each other’s primacy, both benefited while black South African miners suffered.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Patricia Arnold, Grant Samkin, and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. Moreover, the authors know that justice cannot be done to the horrendous exploitation of mineworkers in South Africa during this period. The authors hope, though, that the piece makes a small contribution to a better understanding of capitalist exploitation so that the authors can better resist it. The authors acknowledge and applaud mineworkers everywhere as comrades in that struggle.
Citation
Hammond, T., Cooper, C. and van Staden, C.J. (2017), "Anglo American Corporation and the South African State: A contextual analysis of annual reports 1917-1975", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 1399-1423. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-11-2016-2760
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited