Copy of a Letter to the Business Editor of the New York Times from Dumisani S. Kumalo concerning the article by Walter E. Williams on disinvesting from South Africa ("Beware the Well-Intentioned," May 15). For the last two years, Kumalo, Projects Director at American Committee on Africa (ACOA), has helped legislators across the country get divestment laws enacted. Kumalo points out that the three South Africans Williams uses to justify his arguments against divestment are the same people the white minority Government uses when it lobbies against divestment legislation. Since 1960, while U.S. economic involvement in South Africa has more than tripled, the South African government has tightened...
Copy of a Letter to the Business Editor of the New York Times from Dumisani S. Kumalo concerning the article by Walter E. Williams on disinvesting from South Africa ("Beware the Well-Intentioned," May 15). For the last two years, Kumalo, Projects Director at American Committee on Africa (ACOA), has helped legislators across the country get divestment laws enacted. Kumalo points out that the three South Africans Williams uses to justify his arguments against divestment are the same people the white minority Government uses when it lobbies against divestment legislation. Since 1960, while U.S. economic involvement in South Africa has more than tripled, the South African government has tightened its control of the black population, removing millions of people to bare rural reserves, instituting detention without trial, and outlawing black political opposition. The letter explains the nonviolent history of the A.N.C., which was formed in 1912 to oppose a law that made it illegal for blacks to own land. The letter says the white minority government has made advocating disinvestment a criminal offense under the Terrorism Act, punishable by a minimum of five years in jail. The letter discusses the African National Congress (ANC), Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, and the Union of Black Journalists, of which Kumalo was a founder.
