Reprint of a newspaper article, "US businesses are taking more political heat for their ties to South Africa" by Jeffrey J. Carmel. The article says there is steady pressure for state and city pension funds to divest themselves of stock in U.S. corporations doing business with South Africa. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, and the District of Columbia have passed binding divestiture legislation, as have at least 20 major cities including Philadelphia, Hartford (Conn.), and Berkeley (Calif.). Similar bills are pending in 26 states and 20 cities. Also, the U.S. Senate is debating a bill proposing tighter curbs on U.S. business interests in South Africa - worth some $2.3 billion. The House...
Reprint of a newspaper article, "US businesses are taking more political heat for their ties to South Africa" by Jeffrey J. Carmel. The article says there is steady pressure for state and city pension funds to divest themselves of stock in U.S. corporations doing business with South Africa. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, and the District of Columbia have passed binding divestiture legislation, as have at least 20 major cities including Philadelphia, Hartford (Conn.), and Berkeley (Calif.). Similar bills are pending in 26 states and 20 cities. Also, the U.S. Senate is debating a bill proposing tighter curbs on U.S. business interests in South Africa - worth some $2.3 billion. The House passed a bill last fall that contained five amendments to the Export Administration Act of 1979, including: banning all new investment in South Africa by U.S. firms; banning U.S. banks from lending money to the South African government; requiring U.S. enterprises in South Africa to establish fair employment practices; and prohibiting imports of Krugerrands and other South African gold coins into the U.S., which were valued at some $530 million in 1982. The U.S. has recently stepped up its negotiation efforts in southern Africa, hoping to secure a settlement in South West Africa (Namibia). The article discusses Democratic presidential candidates, Jesse Jackson, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, racial policies, grass-roots anti-apartheid groups, President Reagan, Dumisani Kumalo, the American Committee on Africa (ACOA), President Carter, David Hauck, the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), John H. Chettle, the South Africa Foundation, racism, Robert Schwartz, Shearson-American Express, Franklin Research and Development Corporation of Boston, and South Africa-clean portfolio.
