DaimlerChrysler Chairman Receives 'Order of Good Hope' from Mandela
29 January 1999
DaimlerChrysler Chairman Juergen E. Schrempp Receives 'Order of Good Hope' from Nelson Mandela
Highest Civilian Award of the Republic of South Africa;
Mandela Thanks Schrempp for His Commitment to Africa
STUTTGART, Germany and AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Jan. 28 -- The
President of the Republic of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, today bestowed
South Africa's highest civilian award on Juergen E. Schrempp, chairman of the
management board of DaimlerChrysler . The "Order of Good Hope" was
awarded to Mr. Schrempp for his contribution on behalf of South Africa. He
has represented South Africa in three German States as Honorary Consul since
1994 and is chairman of Germany's Southern Africa Business Initiative (SAFRI).
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has among others also received the award.
Juergen Schrempp has been closely tied to South Africa and the entire
region for years. He was appointed to the management of the South African
subsidiary Mercedes-Benz of South Africa in 1974. From 1980 on he served
as a member of the management board. His last assignment was a chairman of
this company.
Since his time there, Schrempp has remained deeply committed to the
country of South Africa and the Southern Africa region, not only in business
but also privately, as he made clear in his speech at the award ceremony: "I
confess that I love this country. A country in which I have worked for 12
years and which has become a home away from home. It was the time in which I
started a family, the time in which my children grew up." His experiences
have shown him, how "fateful" apartheid would be for the future of South
Africa. From early on Mercedes-Benz of South Africa carried through equal
treatment of black and white employees at it's factories -- against the
official policy of the former regime.
Schrempp received the order from Mandela during a ceremony in the German
town of Baden-Baden, where Nelson Mandela himself was awarded the "German
Media Prize." Schrempp delivered the Laudatory speech on Mandela's
achievements.
In the speech, Schrempp honored the Nobel Peace Prize winner as the man
who by his actions changed "not only South Africa, but the whole world."
"Nelson Mandela changed South Africa not with weapons, but with words. He
created a democracy without bloodshed," Schrempp said. Mandela's
accomplishment was due to his unbroken principles of humanity and to his
extraordinary personality. "President Mandela demonstrated that power is not
a question of physical strength, but of human values -- steadfastly held."
Schrempp said that one reason for the world's appreciation for Mandela was
a feature that "is uncommon in today's world of self-righteous moralizing: a
compatibility of life and teaching." The life of Mandela thus represented an
"on-going challenge" to all of us: "It is a challenge to participate and
to take part and to work for our communities, to uphold freedom, to defend
human dignity and human rights. For those of us in business it means we must
always keep in mind our social responsibilities, especially at a time of
further globalization. It is a challenge to work for peace in our societies,"
he said.
Juergen Schrempp is also chairman of the Southern Africa Initiative of
German Business (SAFRI), which seeks to improve the economic and political
conditions for collaboration in the Southern Africa region. He said he would
personally do everything possible to make this initiative a success.
At the same time Schrempp re-emphasized the message contained in his
recent letter to the Presidents of the Southern Africa Development Committee
(SADC) States when he pointed out that "all hindrances to continued, strong
and positive socio-econominc development in the individual countries and
throughout DADC should be addressed by governments immediately and with
resolve."
In his Baden-Baden speech Schrempp also stressed that the engagement of
German companies in the region requires basic stability: "That means: a
decrease in the crime rate, better security law enforcement and further
liberalization of trade and markets."
In spite of these problems the SAFRI chairman believes that Southern
Africa has excellent development opportunities: "Africa is a continent of
hope", he said. DaimlerChrysler announced in November 1998 that it would
increase its investment in its production facility in the South African town
of East London by an additional DM 250 million (approximately US $150
million). Mercedes-Benz vehicles have been built in South Africa since 1958.
The DaimlerChrysler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz of South Africa employs over
3400. In 1997 it sold over 12,000 passenger cars, vans, busses, Unimog and
off-road vehicles.