please make sure that everything coming in to our office from the factory managers immediately comes to my desk marked TOP PRIORITY. A visit to each manager during the coming two months is a must. Check my diary and organise……. thank you.”
Lucy was my secretary and had moved over with me at my request. We worked well together.
More weeks went by and once again Jackson called me.
“Charlie it is imperative you attend tonight. Marlon is mad with you. Please do not cross him. He can be very belligerent if he does not get his way. He only wants to talk to you.”
“What the hell about ?”
“It’s a major business matter involving all of us. You must come. He will explain.”
“For the record, I am not interested in any business venture with you guys. That has been made very clear by me from the start. My attendance at these meetings is purely social and offers me a platform to interact with a cross section of South Africans. My loyalty is to my company and under no circumstances will consideration be given to a business involvement in anything he might propose or want to discuss.”
“Charlie you have to come. You must be there tonight.”
He rang off leaving me annoyed and feeling a little rebellious. Bloody hell, no one talks to me like that .
I left work at 6.30 pm with no intention of joining them for a drink. Jackson was waiting next to my Alfa.
“I have come to collect you. We can go in my car,” he insisted with agitation. “I promised them I would get you there. Believe me it is vital you come with me.”
“What the hell is going on. Very well I will come with you but in my car. You will have to get a lift back.”
There was no overwhelming desire to go home just yet but I certainly was not going to be trapped there without my own transport.
We arrived and Jackson and I walked in together. There were eleven people sitting around a table waiting for us as Marlon arose and greeted me with his hand outstretched. Cordial enough I thought.
I greeted them.“ Hello All, why the urgency?”
“Good evening Charlie, I would like to introduce you to our business committee.”
I remained silent. The strategy was to let matters take their course. I did not want to hear details of any business, be it social or commercial, that they so desperately wanted to discuss in my presence. A quick exit was planned with the intention of my never returning.
“Well Comrades, it is a pleasure to have you all together tonight.”
Bad start I thought to myself.
“We are gathered here for a very special occasion. I will start with the background.”
What have I let myself in for entered my mind.
“As I said, I will start with the background. Each one of us, including you, Charlie, is painfully aware of the injustice and havoc apartheid has inflicted on the black majority in this country of ours. We are not here to try and rectify the political abnormalities. No, we are here to control and change the business sectors’ injustices and abnormalities.”
I jumped to my feet, immediately on the defensive. “Hold it Marlon, you give me no choice but to leave immediately. It is obvious where you are going with this and herby advise you I will not be part of any conspiracy.”
“Sit down you bloody idiot!!” he screamed across the table, “you ARE part of this and you WILL listen.”
“I am getting out of here.” I moved towards the door. Two burly figures blocked my exit. I looked at Marlon and saw venomous hatred and burning anger in his face. I quickly calmed down. A calming and accepting approach was my only hope of getting away.
“You are already part of this.” He dimmed the lights and a projector beamed images of me and the others on to a screen.
“You see we have filmed all our meetings and with clever editing it is obvious you are participating and plotting.”
I was shocked beyond belief. My stomach churned. A file was angrily thrown at me.
“Take a look at this you little piece of shit.”
I opened it. There were copies and originals of memo’s, confidential working papers and reports, all from the secret and private records of the Industrial Division of my Company. Jackson had done a good job. The implications were monstrously terrifying.
“That one file is a miniscule part of a library we have created. A library documenting and recording the inner workings of twelve major South Africa companies. Yes, we have people in each company working for us. They are our understudies, with us preparing to take over when the revolution begins. We are not interested in participating in party politics. We WILL control the economy. The power WILL be in our hands.”
“What about Mandela? Is he part of this?”
“If Mandela is released he could be a problem. He might want to negotiate with the white regime but we will deal with that if and when the time comes. Back to now.”
“Charlie you have no choice but to continue as one of us. It is one of two choices for you. You participate or get locked up as a political activist. The evidence against you is massive. According to that one file you have committed fraud on a grand scale. You face a life time behind bars or at the very least twenty years and you will never work again.”
“I will not be part of this you bastard!”
“There is no country you can run to. The ANC has informants and members in every corner of the world. Be warned, if you do not cooperate fully you put your wife and daughter at severe risk. You and your family will never be able to hide from us.”
The enormity of my situation suddenly consumed me. My darling Sophie, my little girl was in serious danger. She was my everything. I looked around the room.
“How do you see me contributing Gentleman?” I struggled with the words. Fear had taken over but determination to safeguard my little girl fuelled my resolve. I had to appear to agree with those around the table. These men were my enemy and had to be destroyed. A plan for their destruction must be the primary move in any strategy taken.
“You will continue in your new position within the Steel Division ……. how do you think you got there……and do not make one false move. Remember we have members watching and reporting. Should we even suspect disloyalty your wife and daughter will disappear. You are far too intelligent a man not to do as we say. Your first instruction will be given to you in the morning.”
I quickly got up and left and made my way home. What had he meant by saying “ how do you think you got there?” Was Hetherington part of this? It could not be. My mind raced. My life up till this moment had been relatively sheltered and somewhat stress free. Finding myself embroiled in fictitious claims of corporate espionage and surrounded by possible charges of high treason rocked my entire being. Was this the real world from which my parents had, at great expense, sheltered me? Twelve years of public boarding school had definitely been instrumental in controlling my perception of what the world was all about.
As
