African Activist Archive

Cover letter by Jennifer Davis and June 9, 1988 testimony of ACOA Projects Director Robert Jones in favor of the Dellums legislation, HR 1580. Davis says she still hopes the House of Representatives will pass strong sanctions in July, although prospects for passage don't appear as good as they did a few weeks ago. In his testimony, Jones says passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act in 1986 put an end to the era of "constructive engagement" and made sanctions the official U.S. policy toward South Africa. He says the provisions of HR 1580 are the next logical step to put economic pressure on the South African government to abandon apartheid and support the Black majority's demand for a democratic society based on one person, one vote in a non-racial and unified country. The government's increasingly repressive tactics have included declaring a State of Emergency, which has now been in effect for two years. Since June 1986, some 31,000 people have been detained. Jones says the South African government took its repression one step further, imposing sweeping bans on 17 organizations, including the two-million member United Democratic Front, which have been leading the struggle against apartheid. Last year the Committee on Ways and Means passed the Rangel Amendment to the Budget Reconciliation Act denying foreign tax credits to U.S. corporations doing business in South Africa. The U.S. oil companies Mobil and Caltex (jointly owned by Chevron and Texaco) are the largest U.S. investors in South Africa and control 40% of the petroleum market. U.S. computer companies, including Control Data, IBM and Unisys, have some 50% of the market. HR 1580 would require not only that all U.S. companies disinvest from South Africa but also that U.S. nationals sell their stock in South African companies.

African Activist Archive

Recent Congressional Testimony on Sanctions

Testimony of Robert Jones, Project Director, American Committee on Africa

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