African Activist Archive

Letter to ACAS members urging them to lobby members of the House and Senate on upcoming South Africa legislation. Three issues about South Africa are on Congress' agenda. A section of H.R. 2957, which increases the U.S. quota to the International Monetary Fund, would require the U.S. executive director to the IMF to actively oppose any credits to a country which practices apartheid. It is fortuitous that Congress must act on this bill, so it is a vehicle for this anti-apartheid provision soon after the IMF made the controversial decision to approve a $1.1 billion loan to South Africa last November. A bill introduced by Congressman Stephen Solarz (D-NY) (H.R. 1693) would: (a) require companies investing in South Africa to comply with a fair employment code; (b) ban commercial bank loans to the South African government (with certain exceptions); and (c) ban imports into the US of South African gold coins such as the Krugerrand. The Solarz bill is problematic; for the many organizations that have demanded divestment from South Africa, the focus of the first section on a Sullivan Principles approach is counterproductive. A bill introduced by Congressman William Gray (D-Penn) (H.R. 1392) would prohibit new corporate investment (including bank loans) in South Africa. Included in the mailing is ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF SOLARZ AND GRAY BILLS ON SOUTH AFRICA, adapted from a document produced by Washington Office on Africa. The mailing mentions the Congressional Black Caucus, three House members (Julian Dixon, Mike Lowry, and Jerry Patterson) the House Banking Committee, the Export Administration Act, H.R. 3231, Black South African trade union demands, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., First National Bank of Chicago, Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith, sanctions, the illegal occupation of Namibia, economic and military self-sufficiency, financial crises, U.S. private banks, the National Key Points Act, Prime Minister John Vorster, and South African government bonds.

African Activist Archive

[Dear ACAS members, In a few weeks the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on three major issues affecting South Africa.]

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