By The Breakfast Team
Human Rights Lawyer and Author of Class Action, Charles Abrahams says he was never comfortable with what had come out of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He says what was fundamentally missing in the TRC hearings were the corporates that had kept the apartheid system afloat through arms and funding. He added that all those who came before the Truth and Reconciliation Proclaimed innocence.
Charles Abrahams was a guest on Breakfast with David on Kaya 959 speaking about his book Class Action. He has sued multinationals for colluding with the apartheid government.
His book, Class Action, depicts a remarkable journey of resistance and healing in reaction to institutionalised greed and racism and the harm it has done to our identities, our relationships and the people of our country.
Abrahams was at the forefront of the Khulumani apartheid lawsuit in the US that took action against global corporations and banks in that country for aiding the apartheid government.
He also did the first damage class action lawsuit in South Africa against bread companies that fixed the price of bread, and the silicosis and TB class action against the South African gold mining industry that resulted in a R5 billion settlement.
Class Action is the story of how Charles aimed high anyway, despite a childhood that included forced removal, dire poverty and the deep sense of shame of being neither white nor a ‘white coloured’. As one of eleven children in a poor family, he experienced constant hardship and family strife.
Listen to full interview here:
