MINING THE COMPLEX LEGACY OF HARRY OPPENHEIMER
Dr Michael Cardo, member of parliament
Monday 22 January 9.15 am COURSE FEES R110; Staff and students R55
Based on the author’s recently published biography, Harry Oppenheimer: Diamonds, Gold and Dynasty, this lecture will unpack the mining magnate’s complex legacy. As a financier, philanthropist and public figure, Harry Oppenheimer (or ‘HFO’ as he was known) straddles the history of twentieth century South Africa. In the 1950s the National Party regarded him as a threat to Afrikanerdom, the sinister embodiment of English ‘money power’. Forty years later, Nelson Mandela praised Oppenheimer as a nation-builder, a key figure in South Africa’s transition to democracy. Yet nowadays, HFO is demonised in some quarters as the archetype of ‘white monopoly capital’ and blamed, in part, for democracy’s disappointing dividends. Drawing on extensive interviews and biographical research in the archives, this lecture will get to grips with the multifaceted man behind the empire of Anglo American and De Beers.
Recommended reading
Cardo, M. 2023. Harry Oppenheimer: Diamonds, Gold and Dynasty. Cape Town and Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers.
TO BOOK:
https://www.webtickets.co.za/performance.aspx?itemid=1534476521