AMERICAN COMMITTEE ON AFRICA

AMERICAN COMMITTEE ON AFRICA A CTION1 ACTION NEWS: FALL 1990 Number 30 i 198 Broadway * New York, NY 10038 * (212)962-1210 A Hero's Welcome 's tour of the created a groundswell of support for the democratic movement in . Everywhere he went, record breaking crowds and high-ranking officials welcomed him and his message to Keep the Pressure On . Here we have captured some of the events in New York City, first stop on his tour. Above left, ANC Deputy President Nelson Mandela addresses National Activists Briefing. Left to right: Aubrey McCutcheon, Executive Director, Washington Office on Africa; Lindiwe Mabuza, ANC Chief Representative to the U.S.; Nelson Mandela; Jennifer Davis; Tebogo Mafole, ANC Chief Representative to the U.N.; Jerry Herman, Director Southern Africa Program, American Friends Service Committee. Middle left, Mayor Dinkins presents Mr. Mandela with the keys to the city on the steps of New York City Hall. Bottom left, a ticker tape parade passes ACOA office in lower Manhattan welcoming the Mandelas to the U.S. on June 20,1990. The large truck in the foreground housed the Mandelas, Mayor Dinkins and Gov. Cuomo during the parade. ACOA's Jennifer Davis served on the New York Nelson Mandela Welcome Committee. Pictured above she introduces Nelson Mandela to a meeting of grassroots activists (see story). ACOA also helped to organize the Yankee Stadium Rally and the event for women leadership with Winnie Mandela.

Mandela Speaks to the People Nelson Mandela's historic visit to the United States in June saw an outpouring of excitement usually reserved for returning national heroes. The visit soon became the largest media event in the country, and anti-apartheid activists found themselves pushed aside as the whole country reached out for the "Freedom Man." While recognizing this as a great victory, activists were still eager to have their own time with Mandela and the political leadership traveling with him. To satisfy this need ACOA Executive Director Jennifer Davis worked with the ANC's Chief Representative Lindiwe Mabuza and a committee: Aubrey McCutcheon of the Washington Office on Africa; Jerry Herman, AFSC Director of Southern Africa activists and Prexy Nesbitt, to bring anti-apartheid activists from across the country to a one day meeting with the visiting ANC delegation and Nelson Mandela. The National Activists Briefing on June 22 1990 was attended by nearly 100 activists, from 49 cities and 29 states. It was a rare opportunity for people who work locally to meet each other and share strategic and regional problems and successes. The bulk of the day was spent in briefings and workshops with a delegation from the African National Congress including Thomas Nkobi, Treasurer of the ANC; Chris Dhlamini, Vice- President, Congress of South African Trade Unions and Barbara Masekela, ANC Head of Cultural Affairs. Activists were urged by each speaker to keep up their work and expand their base of support. As Sister Bernard Ncube, President of the Federation of Transvaal Women put it, "We say to you, comrades, it is only the beginning." At the end of a long day, conference participantsgreeted Nelson Mandela with a thunderous roar of approval. He confirmed the importance of their grass roots organizing: "We never forget in all these countries where we have been invited by the government that our power lies in the people, both inside the country and outside. We are of course happy when the ANC is acknowledged because the invitation that we have got to visit these countries, invitations by the government, are a testimony of the impact which the organization has made and the high esteem in which it is held by governments, non-governmental organizations and individuals. We are happy about that because it makes our task much more easy and it leads to the further isolation of white South Africa. We are happy about that, but if we ever forgot that our source of power is the masses of the people both in the country and outside, then we would commit suicide. The governments would never have assisted us were it not for the fact that the people in their respective countries demand action against South Africa and therefore we must keep in touch with the masses of the people both in our country and outside." COSATU Lader Vots Cyril Ramaphosa, General SecretaryofSouth Africa's National Union on Mine Workers (NUM) visited the U.S. in late September. His trip included stops in Pittsburgh, Miami for the Mine Workers Convention, and Washington D.C. where he met with the Congressional Black Caucus. The NewYork legof histripwas organized by The Africa Fund. Ramaphosa is pictured at aNew York Labor Committee Against Apartheid luncheon with labor leaders where he joined them in casting their ballots for sanctions and democracy. Ramaphosa (left) and Cleveland Robinson, Treasurer of the UAW, sign an enlarged Vote Campaign ballot.

Human Rights The Cruel Summer The terms "unrest areas" and "unfortunate lapses on the part of security forces" have become the new masks of apartheid as the South African government practices a two faced strategy of negotiations on one hand while continuing to violate human rights on the other. Since Spring The Africa Fund has sent thousands of mailings and made hundreds of telephone calls warning Americans not to turn their attention away from South Africa thinking the government committed to peaceful change. As the summer of 1990 passed, the South African securityforces underscored the shallowness of the reforms undertaken by the apartheid regime. By June 301990, they had killed 180 people and injured over 1,500.This beforethe bloody months of August and September. The State of Emergency was lifted, with the exception of Natal, where fighting has claimed over 3,000 lives in the last five years. The same violence which has devastated Natal, and remains un-investigated, shook the whole country this summer with its brutality and number of fatalities. The Africa Fund worked closely with churches and human rights organizations both inside South Africa and in the United States to publicize the growing threat to peace that the Natal conflict presented. When the situation spread into other parts of the country we alerted thousands of people to the truth behind the term "black on black violence." In May we assisted in coordinating the tour of Willis Mchunu and Nicholas Haysom, representatives of COSATU and the United Democratic Front, who live and work in the Natal area. They briefed human rights activists and government officials about police collaboration with Inkatha, the need for an impartial judicial inquiry into the failure of the Kwazulu court system to deal with any cases concerning the killings, and the urgency of ending the State of Emergency. The Fund's Human Rights department continued to highlightthe plightof political prisoners, who remain in jail despite agreements for their release the government made in talks with the African National Congress. The department also publicized thegrowing numberofdetentions and cases of police harassment and killings: the first deaths in detention in 1990 and the mysterious deaths of a number of leading members of opposition groups. ACOA Bulletins ACOA GROUNDS APARTHEID AIRWAYS ADS State-owned South African Airways may have lost its U.S. landing rights, but not its desire to break the tourism boycott. In August the apartheid air carrier kicked off a $1.75 million American advertising campaign with a glossy, 20page supplement in Avenue Magazine. Other publications, including Time Magazine, TravelHolidayand Newsweek have also accepted the scandalous ads. In an August 28 memorandum ACOA alerted key anti-apartheid and civil rights organizations to the SAA advertising blitz, and called for pressure on the publications to drop the ads. Two weeks later, activists in Los Angeles forced the cancellation of a SAA promotional event for travel agents and prospective customers. ACOA also worked with journalist John Motavalli at Inside Media magazine, a widely-read advertising trade journal, on a damaging expose of the campaign in the September issue. When asked aboutACOA's charge that the ads were flagrantly racist, SAA executive Gavin Vander Merve assured Motavalli that "some of my best friends are Black," and added that the New York office "employs a lot of minorities. We're way above the quota." ACOA'S INTERNS ON THE MOVE ACOA's 1990 summer interns were involved in numerous office projects. In addition to helping maintain the office's 8,000 plus file research center, interns updated the list of state and local divestment legislations across the country. They produced a list of U.S. athletic footwear Vote Campaign 50,000 Ballots F While United States George Bush and apartheid President F.W. de Klerk were meeting with reporters on the White House grounds on September 24, ACOA's associate, The Africa Fund, was Voter casts his ballot at breakingsome Tower Video in Manhattan. ground of its own delivering 50,000 ballots to Congress for stronger U.S. sanctiong against South Africa. The ballots, collected in 46 states by the End Apartheid: Vote for the People Campaign, were presented to House Majority Whip William Gray at the Capitol by a delegation lead by Executive DirectorJennifer Davis. The delegation includ- stronger sanctions against apartbeld. Contact Tho Afric Fund, 198 s nway, Now York, MY 100j IIZ121 962-1210 companies regarding the status of their business ties with South Africa. They also did a study of U.S. bank loans to South Africa. The highlight of the summer came early with Nelson Mandela's trip to the U.S.. ACOA was one of the key groups organizing hisvisit. In addition to helping staff the Activists Briefing with Mandela, they provided invaluable assistance during an incredibly active June which was full of press calls, inquiries and heightened interest in South Africa.

! For Sanctions Until Democracy ed Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn; the ANC's chief U.S. representative, Lindiwe Mabuza; religious and labor leaders, and Vote Campaign activists from Baltimore, Atlanta, Detroit and San Francisco. The September event capped a summer of Vote organizing that was highlighted by Nelson Mandela's electrifying U.S. tour. On the day of Mandela's arrival, June 20, the United States Conference of Mayors, representing 900 of the country's largest cities, formallyendorsed the campaign and its call for stronger sanctions until the South African people's demand for one-person, one-vote democracy is met. Sanctions ballots were distributed during mass rallies for Mandela in New York's Yankee Stadium, the Esplanade in Boston and at Oakland Coliseum. Labor support for the campaign has also been strong, with votes conducted at theAFSCME convention in Miami, where Mandela also spoke, and among public sector and hospital workers rallying in the New York State capital, Albany. Jennifer Davis, Mayor Raymond Flyn to support continued Congressional they hold a giant ballot, symboliz participated in the campaign so far. The Tower Video store chain got involved, setting up Vote Campaign displays and ballot boxes in all 53 of their stores nationally. Other highlights include: San Leandro, California, where sixth grade students at Monroe Elementary School voted in their first election for sanctions and democracy in South Africa. Massachusetts, which has collected over 12,000 Vote ballots since March, more than any other state. Baltimore, where Mayor KurtSchmoke and other municipal officials sent a letter to President Bush as part of the Baltimore Vote Campaign, calling for continued sanctions until democracy comes to South Africa. Seattle, which declared September 1990 "Vote for the People Campaign Month," and whose Mayor and City Council publicly cast their ballots for sanctions and democracy. n and Lindiwe Mabuza join Representative Gray sanctions against apartheid South Africa. Here ing the votes of 50,000 Americans who have F -I Publications I The following publications are available from ACOA. Prices are listed. Please indicate the number of copies desired. Please I add 15% postage to all orders. I 1-UNIFIED LIST OF UNITED STATES COMPANIES DOING BUSINESS IN SOUTH AFRICA, Third Edition by Rich- I I ard Knight. (Africa Fund, 1990) This new I edition identifies companies with licens- I ing, franchising and distribution agreeI ments as well as those with ownership in I South Africa. An indispensable resource I for anyone concerned about the U.S. cor- I porate role in South Africa. 90 pages. Individuals $10.00. Institutions $30.00. _ SOUTH AFRICA FACT SHEET, cornI piled byAdotei Akwei. (Africa Fund, 1990) I This updated version provides information on apartheid, the government, economy and on South Africa-U.S. economic links. A vital resource for antiapartheid activists. 4 pages. 30o each. I I Over twenty, 1 5o each. I END APARTHEID: VOTE FOR THE PEOPLE CAMPAIGN brochure/baillot. b(Africa Fund, 1990) Circulate this bro- I chure in your community and collect I ballots as part of the campaign. Sets ofl1, I $1.00 each up to 9 sets. Sets of 100, $8.00 I each. I I END APARTHEID: VOTE FOR THE I IPEOPLE - SANCTIONS UNTIL DEMOC- I I RACY(T-shirt).(AfricaFund, 1990)Choose I size (large, extra large) _$10.00. I I NELSON MANDELA: FREE AT LAST I (Video, VHS only) (South Africa Now, I 11990) Includes the complete speech I I Mandela gave in Cape Town after his I release on February 11th. 1 hour, 19 minutes. $14.95. I-SOUTHERN AFRICA LITERATURE I I LIST. (Africa Fund, 1990) A complete list I of available titles. Free on request. I I I Name ! Organization I Address II City State - Zip Fill out and return with payment to: I American Committee on Africa, I L 198 Broadway, New York, NY 10038 J

ACOA Journal The Poitical War Jim Cason talks with Willis Mchunu, ANC Convener for Northern Natal in front of his bomb-proofed house. ACOA's Jim Cason spent three weeks in strategy.While its senior officials have South Africa this August. Action News begun talks with thetopANC leadership, asked him to record some of his impres- it is also doing its best to destabilize local sions for our readers. communities and undermine their ESIKHAWINI - Willis Mchunu has been forced to make several improvements on his small home here in the last three years. Standing outside his four-room house in northern Natal this August, he described how he installed a steel grate on the window after a molotov cocktail thrown through the window two years ago barely missed his young daughter. After his car was raked by gun shots and destroyed by fire and two more attempts were made to burn down the house he built a twelve-foot-high chain link fence to protect his family. One of Mchunu's colleagues in northem Natal, Bongani Msomi, had his house burned to the ground by police-backed gangs of Inkatha residents this July shortly after hebecame an organizerfortheANC. Talking with Mchunu, who heads the ANC's Northern Natal region, I gotavivid sense of the repressive state strategy that combines police violence with promotion of vigilante actions. In three weeks of intensive meetings with local church, trade union and ANC organizers in Natal, Cape Town and the townships outsideJohannesburg, I learned more about the government's twin-track attempts to build strong, local organizations. The only place where change is evidentis in downtown Johannesburgwhere I met ANC officials Barbara Masekela, Alfred Nzo and Tom Nkobi who had not been back in the country for decades. They and theircolleagues in the ANC are under tremendous pressure to organize and build the organization while responding to everything from the next round of negotiations with de Klerk tothe recent violence in the townships. In initial discussions with the government the ANC has called for the creation of a climate of free political activity. First steps include the release of all political prisoners and detainees, the repeal of all repressive laws, the ending of theState of Emergency. There is still a longwaytogo before these conditions are met. ANC leader told me that they believe de Klerk's government has accepted the need to change, but is working hard to control the process of change. "One key factor that has brought de Klerk to the negotiation table is sanctions," one high ranking ANC leadertold me. "But if you remove sanctions now, right when we enter the critical phase of negotiations about the new political order, the pressure will be lifted and the ANC will lose critical leverage in the talks." NESO MADL ISFRE When ACOA was founded Nelson Mandela was leading the "Campaign to Defy Unjust Laws." After twenty seven years imprisonment, Mandela is free again, but the unjust laws remain. No Black person can vote. Political prisoners are still in prison cells. The government can still lock up anyone, at anytime, withouteven the formality of a charge or trial. Now the Bush Administration wants to end the sanctions that helped force Mandela's release. Your generous contribution to ACOA will enable us to resist this pressure and campaign to stop all U.S. investment in apartheid. Yes, I will stand by the people of South Africa until their struggle for freedom is finally won. Here is my contribution of ED$500 E3$100 0I$50 0I$25 0il$10 Name Address City State - Zip (Contributions to ACOA are not tax-deductible.) L American Committee on Africa, 198 Broadway, New York, NY 10038

Divestment Campaign City Action Keeps Pressure On The grass roots campaign to get cities to put pressure on companies that continue to do business in South Africa received a tremendous boost from the June visit of Nelson Mandela. Increasingly, cities are adopting selective purchasing policies favoring those companies that do not do business in South Africa. The City of Chicago in July passed strong selective purchasing legislation which targets companies with non-equity ties. ACOA worked closely with local activists and members of the City Council. Alderman Helen Shiller wrote to ACOA to "thank you for all the help you gave me figuring out the answers to all my questions, understanding what was being done elsewhere, and just generally lending encouragement and support to our efforts here." On July 10th Mayor David Dinkins signed legislation which expands New York City's selective purchasing policy to target companies with non-equity ties to South Africa including licensing, franchising and distribution agreements. It also targets banks with financial ties to South Africa. ACOA was involved in months of extensive consultations with Mayor Dinkins and members of the City Council and Executive Director Jennifer Davis testified before the City Council in support of the legislation. Currently ACOA staff is assisting city officials in the implementation process. In June Los Angeles, which already has one of the strongest selective purchasing ordinances, passed a bill setting up a referendum which, if passed, would increase the scope of its law even further. Detroit, Michigan passed a selective purchasing bill on September 26th.ACOA provided information to the City Council in support of this measure. In September ACOA's associate The Africa Fund published the 1990 edition of the Unified List of United States Companies Doing Business in South Africa. This publication is widely used by local activists, city officials and investment advisors in implementing divestment and selective purchasing policies. Recently, a representative of Xerox met with ACOA's Richard Knight to ask how the company could get off the list which, he said, is "the bible" for many city govern- ments. Xerox subsequently announced thetermination of its distribution in South Africa. Executive Board: M. William Howard, President Elizabeth Landis, Vice President Gail Hovey, Treasurer Dorothy Hibbert, Secretary Elombe Brath, Robert S. Browne, Josephine Buck-Jones, Ralston Deffenbaugh, Jerry Herman, Stanley Hill, Leonard Jeffries, William Johnston, Tilden J. LeMelle, Gay McDougall, Aubrey McCutcheon, Timothy Smith, Stephanie Urdang, Wyatt T. Walker, Peter Weiss, Frederick B. Williams. National Committee: Bella Abzug, Burgess Carr, David Dinkins, James Forman, Carlton Goodlett, Donald S. Harrington, John L.S. Hol oman, Sophia Yarnell Jacobs, David Lampel, John Marcum, Howard Metzenbaum, Frank Montero, Paul Moore, Jr., Paul O'Dwyer, Sidney Poitier, Charles Rangel, Cleveland Robinson, Frederick A.O. Schwartz, Jr., Patricia Schroeder, George Sheperd, Jennifer Davis, Executive Director George M. Houser, Director Emeritus. American Committee on Africa 198 Broadway New York, NY 10038 Address Correction Requested BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID NEW YORK, NY Permit No. 4198 WATCH SOUT AFRICA NOW ONW. Unified List of UNITED STATES COMPANIES Doing Business in SOUTH AFRICA ihlSd Knhight The Affca Fund Third Edition 1990 4{a itd wkh the A-CnChe. nAk