The article says major new bank loans totaling at least $777 million are helping to shore up South Africa's white minority regime in 1976; some of the United States' largest and most powerful banking concerns are involved--New York Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Morgan Guaranty Trust, Manufacturers Hanover, Orion and Bank of America; black liberation groups within South Africa and their supporters in the United States strongly oppose the loans; they maintain that it is precisely this foreign assistance that has allowed the white-minority government to remain in power for so long. The article says the South African economy does need bolstering, for its balance of payments deficit--the difference...
The article says major new bank loans totaling at least $777 million are helping to shore up South Africa's white minority regime in 1976; some of the United States' largest and most powerful banking concerns are involved--New York Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Morgan Guaranty Trust, Manufacturers Hanover, Orion and Bank of America; black liberation groups within South Africa and their supporters in the United States strongly oppose the loans; they maintain that it is precisely this foreign assistance that has allowed the white-minority government to remain in power for so long. The article says the South African economy does need bolstering, for its balance of payments deficit--the difference between the value of its imports and exports--is growing; this is due largely to the decline in the price of gold, which is expected to bring in only about two-thirds of the foreign exchange it did in the last two years. The article says U.S. banks and their overseas branches currently have some $2 billion in loans to South Africa, according to Senator Richard Clark, Chairman of the Subcommittee on African Affairs; South Africa has been borrowing increasingly large sums from private banking institutions.; in 1975 the figure jumped to $1.8 billion from · just under $1 billion in 1974; and in 1976 the figure is expected to jump again with a large portion of it coming from the United States. The article says most of the loans made by U.S. banks in 1976 were for South African government corporations involved in specific development projects; the largest single U.S. loan was made to the Electrical Supply Commission (Escom), a government corporation which supplies most of the country's electric power; another loan has gone to the Iron and Steel Corporation (ISCOR), and several to companies involved in mineral extraction, notably to Richards Bay Minerals and to the Phosphate Development Corporation (Foscor); these are aimed at increasing South African exports, and thereby improving its balance of payments. The article says one particularly interesting loan has gone to South African Airways for the purchase of Boeing airplanes from the U.S.; these planes are an example of the "dual purpose" items which South Africa is eager to purchase--which could be used for military as well as civilian purposes. The article says Chase Manhattan has made a significant loan to the Industrial Development Corporation; Dillion Reade and Company, a major U.S. investment banking house has been hired to plan the financing for a new South African coal gasification plant. The article says perhaps the strongest indication of U.S. willingness to grant Ex-Im support comes from President-Elect Carter himself; in the November 5 Financial Mail, a major South African business magazine, he was asked if he would "free up American investment through the Export-Import Bank loans and otherwise encourage an increase in private American lending and corporate activity in South Africa?" The article says nine SASO members currently on trial in South Africa are charged with advocating the economic withdrawal of foreign investment, among other things. The article says it is unlikely that the South African government would so actively seek loans and foreign investment if it thought that in the end it would remove itself from political power; it is also unlikely that U.S. banks and corporate investors are willing to see apartheid disrupted when it is precisely that system which provides such a profitable source of cheap black labor. The article says South Africa has the largest known reserves of gold, platinum, chrome, manganese, vanadium and fluorspar; it also has large deposits of antimony, asbestos, coal, copper, diamonds, iron ore, lead, limestone, nickel, phosphate, titanium, vermiculite, zinc and zircon; South Africa's large uranium deposits will also be increasingly important as oil gets more scarce; these minerals are crucial for the industrial economies of the West and for military purposes as well. The article says furthermore, South Africa is an important foreign market for the U.S. Of the total U.S. exports to Africa in 1975, 31% went .to South Africa; and the country's share of direct U. S. investment in sub-Saharan Africa has increased from 38% in 1972 to 47% in 1973 and 56% in 1974. The article says cumulated U.S. corporate investment in South Africa is estimated at almost $ 2 billion; in 1975 Caltex, jointly owned by Texaco and Standard Oil of California, announced expansion plans of $134 million to increase South Africa's refinery capacity; also in 1975, Kennecott announced a $120 million investment through its two-thirds owned subsidiary Quebec Iron .and Titanium Corp. The article says South Africa is also important strategically to the United States, and the West in general; the major oil route to Europe must go around South Africa, and the country also borders on the Indian Ocean; most of the east coast of Africa is controlled by countries that do not want a U.S. military presence; increased opposition to apartheid inside South Africa comes in sharp conflict with white South Africa's economic-and strategic importance to the West. It is in this context that the new U.S. loans must be viewed. The article discusses tile U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank), Peter Flanigan, the Council on International Economic Affairs, the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), the South African Student's Organization (SASO), the Nationalist Party (National Party), John Vorster, local white capitalists, repressive legislation, Barbara Rogers, natural resources, the Pentagon, NATO, the American Committee on Africa (ACOA), South African Airways (SAA), Executive Vice President of Citibank George J. Vojta, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. [Note: This article was reprinted from Liberation News Service packet #831 which also included other articles. The normal size of the pages is 10 x 14 includes but only the part that relates to the article were are part of the last two pages of the PDF. The author at the time worked at the American Committee on Africa.]
