Investment in Apartheid: List of companies with investment and interests in South Africa http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.nuun1978_14 Use of the Aluka digital library is subject to Aluka’s Terms and Conditions, available at http://www.aluka.org/page/about/termsConditions.jsp. By using Aluka, you agree that you have read and will abide by the Terms and Conditions. Among other things, the Terms and Conditions provide that the content in the Aluka digital library is only for personal, non-commercial use by authorized users of Aluka in connection with research, scholarship, and education. The content in the Aluka digital library is subject to copyright, with the exception of certain governmental works and very old materials that may be in the public domain under applicable law. 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For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org Investment in Apartheid: List of companies with investment and interests in South Africa Alternative title Notes and Documents - United Nations Centre Against ApartheidNo. 14/78 Author/Creator United Nations Centre against Apartheid; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions Publisher United Nations, New York Date 1978-06-00 Resource type Reports Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa Coverage (temporal) 1978 Source Northwestern University Libraries Description This issue containing the updated list of companies with investment and interests in South Africa, compiled by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), is published at the request of the Special Committee against Apartheid. It updates the first list prepared by the ICFTU and published by the Centre against Apartheid in Notes and Documents No. 17/74, "ICFTU calls for trade union action against apartheid," in July 1974. Format extent 28 page(s) (length/size) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.nuun1978_14 http://www.aluka.org NOTES AND DOCUMENTS* NOTES AND DOCUMENTS* INVESTMENT IN APARTHEID List of companies with investment and interests in South Africa by International Confederation of Free Trade Unions June 1978 /-Note: This issue containing the updated list of companies with investment and interests in South Africa, compiled by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), is published at the request of the Special Committee against Apartheid. It updates the first list prepared by the ICFTU and published by the Centre against Apartheid in Notes and Documents No. 17/74, "ICFTU calls for trade union action against apartheid," in July 1974.7 78-15619 * All material in these notes and documents may be freely reprinted. Acknowledgement, together with a copy of the publication containing the reprint, would be appreciated. INTRODUCTION The list of companies investing in South Africa was published by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in 1974. At that time 1,632 companies were quoted. Today, the updated list shows 1,883 and it is still not exhaustive. Moreover, there has been a very disturbing upward trend in investments in the bantustans, condemned by the United Nations as a de facto recognition of the apartheid policy of separate development. The United Kingdom remains in the lead accounting for 60 per cent of all foreign investments in South Africa, with a stake whose current real value is put at about £4,000 million. EEC records have revealed a devastating increase in British investment over the past three years. The second largest investor in South Africa is the United States of America. About 539 United States companies operate in South Africa with an aggregate direct investment of nearly $1,700 million - an estimated 17 per cent of the total foreign investment there. By some estimates, United States banks have supplied, either directly or indirectly, as much as one- third of the money borrowed from any source by Government bodies and corporations in South Africa. The third country on the list is the Federal Republic of Germany whose private investments in South Africa totalled 576 million marks at the end of 1976, a rise of 38 million marks over 1975. About 6,000 Federal Republic of Germany firms have direct or indirect business contacts with South Africa, although 135 are quoted in our list. The Government o-f the Federal Republic recently announced that it would limit Government export credit guarantees for trade deals with South Africa, which had soared over the past year. However, already the Government has said that there may be exceptions - for example when losing the order would mean a loss of jobs in a sector where there is already relatively high unemployment. Current European investment in South Africa is estimated at $1,350 million. French companies now number 116. Belgian involvement has also increased considerably over the past four years. Although the cultural agreement between Belgium and South Africa has been suspended, Belgium remains a target country for the recruitment of white immigrants. The Belgian press often carries South African Embassy advertisements inviting Belgian workers to apply for jobs in South Africa. Some countries which had relatively little investment in South Africa, such as Israel, are expanding their commercial and trade ties. The IsraelSouth Africa Chamber of Economic Relations reports a growth of trade relations from the meagre dimensions of less than $3 million in the mid-1960s to more than $80 million today. Growing Japanese investments are also a cause for concern, although relatively few companies have been named. It is nevertheless encouraging that the Governments of a number of countries quoted in the list, such as Canada, Netherlands and Sweden, are moving towards the curbing of such investments. Canada, for example, is to withdraw its four trade commissioners in South Africa and will close its Consulate-General in Johannesburg. The Canadian Export Development Corporation will also stop selling insurance and making loans for deals with South Africa. Other Governments, such as those of the European Communities, have adopted codes of conduct for companies investing in South Africa. Such codes would indeed be welcomed by the international free trade union movement if they had the effect of making foreign companies agents of wide social and political reform in South Africa. So far, this has not been the case. No code has so far induced employers to recognize African trade unions. No single employer in South Africa has signed any kind of collective agreement with an African union. The EEC Code of Conduct, adopted in the latter part of 1977, contains a good number of the demands made by the international free trade union movement. However, this too, falls short of expectations. It omits the ICFTU proposals for an enforcement clause and for the setting up of a tripartite watchodog committee to monitor the performance of the companies concerned. The South African Rand Daily Mail has labelled the Code as being "similar to the one introduced in Britain some years back, and it is significant that no decisions were taken to apply direct economic pressure on South Africa." ICFTU affiliates have been requested to approach their Governments with a view to tightening the Code, through the introduction of an enforcement clause, such as the withdrawal of credit guarantees and export licences from those companies which do not abide by the letter and spirit of the recommendations. They have also been urged to press for the setting up of tripartite committees, composed of representatives of Governments, employers and trade unions, to check on the reports submitted by the companies. All too often, company reports are sadly contradicted by practice. If one is to consider evidence from the African trade unions inside South Africa, the employers whose reports point to progressive policies and recognition of African unions are often one and the same as those that intimidate workers from Joining unions, refuse access to union organizers and call in police to shoot at workers during peaceful protests in pursuance of just demands. It is impossible to consider investment in South Africa outside the overall social and political context of that country. Indeed, there is plenty of evidence to show that companies invest in South Africa because of apartheid and not despite it. The whole concept of so-called separate development and territorial segregation, making Africans aliens in their own country, was designed, from the start, to suit the economic interests of the white minority rulers and the foreign investors without which the oppressive minority r~gime could never hope to survive. Foreign capital is accepting a stake in the South African economy on terms laid down ever more stringently by the controllers of that economy. The intention of the South African Government is clear: apart from the indispensable role played by foreign capital in crucial growth areas, the more closely the economy is linked with Western economic interests, the simpler it will be for the South African Government to command political support and sympathy in countries whence that capital comes. This point has been illustrated time and again in the successive vetoes in the United Nations Security Council of mandatory sanctions against South Africa. While the interests of Governments and employers remain so closely linked to the maintenance of the apartheid r4gime, the onus falls on the trade union movement to pressurize for effective change. In this framework, the ICFTU organized an internationally-co-ordinated campaign against apartheid in January 1977. We are currently preparing for an intensive follow-up campaign scheduled to take place from 13 to 21 March 1978.