About this site

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Sunter, Clem

Sunter was born in Suffolk, England and educated at Winchester College. He read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford before joining Charter Consolidated as a management trainee in 1966.

In 1971 he moved to Lusaka in Zambia to work for Anglo American Corporation Central Africa. From there he was transferred to the head office of  Anglo American in Johannesburg in 1973. He spent most of his subsequent career in the Gold and Uranium  Division, serving at its chairman and CEO from 1990 to 1996.

He is now chairman of the Anglo American Chairman's Fund which in a recent survey was rated the premier corporate social responsibility fund in SA.

In the early 1980s he established a scenario planning function in Anglo with teams in London and Johannesburg. He put together a presentation entitled "The World and South Africa in the 1990s" which became  very popular in SA in the mid-1980s. Two scenarios were offered for SA: the 'High Road' of negotiation leading to a political settlement and the 'Low Road' of confrontation leading to a civil war and a wasteland. SA took the High Road.

He has authored and co-authored 12 books: "The Mind of a Fox" being a best seller in South Africa since 2002.

Clem Sunter's other main interest is attempting to mobilise the private sector in SA in the war against HIV/AIDS.

He married Margaret Rowland in 1969 and they have one daughter and two sons. His hobbies include music and golf. In 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by UCT for work in the scenario planning field.  He was also voted the best speaker in SA in 2004 in a poll of CEOs.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.