A meeting by businesses in the US reportedly called the claims for compensation a “wake-up call” which could lead to “very expensive judgments, threaten American industry and even rock the foundations of world trade”.
Abstracts from article:
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Local businesses are likely to start feeling the heat from Monday onwards, as the latest group to file legal action, Jubilee SA, and Khulumani start a year of campaigns against Shell Oil and First National Bank in an effort to get their then parent companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Barclays Bank, to “respond appropriately to the court challenges”.
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The campaign of pickets and protests is now backed by the Social Movements Indaba, an alliance of grassroots organisations, which in August led a 20 000-strong march from Alexandra to Sandton.
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The influential Swiss NZZ newspaper on Sunday carried a front-page report saying that “the class-action suits have triggered considerable concern in US industry”. “Representatives of more than 50 big American companies, including Pfizer, Exxon, IBM and Ford, met behind closed doors in Washington … three days after Hausfeld’s (Jubilee’s lawyer) claim was submitted.”
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Newsletter SouthScan said Swiss companies are trying to avoid the claims by declaring them “odious”.
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Source: Full article “Apartheid claims get foreign attention” appeared on the Independant Online iol.co.za website
