The Dilemma of Foreign Investment in South Africa
A TALK GIVEN BY JOEL CARLSON
Senior Fellow, Center for International Studies. .Vetu York University, on April 1971.
As t h e first speaker on this panel it is neces- ary to place squarely t o you what the real d i l e m m a is for any good m a n w h o asks the q u e s t i o n .
S h o u l d I invest in S o u t h Africa?
Should I c o n t i n u e my investment in S o u t h Africa ?
If t h e question only concerns t h e profitabil- ity of t h e u n d e r t a k i n g no m o r e need be said.
T h e r e are few areas where m o r e profit out of cheap l a b o u r can be made so obviously for a profiteer, in profit terms ,the answer is simply
" Y e s " . B u t I a m not concerned with s u c h exploiters.
Today t h e answer is not gained w i t h o u t an examination of t h e framework of S o u t h Africa.
In 1961 S o u t h Africa became a R e p u b l i c . It is governed by a P a r l i a m e n t of 166 m e m - bers — all w h i t e , elected by w h i t e voters in S o u t h Africa a n d S o u t h West Africa -— Na- m i b i a .
T h e latest p o p u l a t i o n of this area is just below 22 000 0 0 0 . T h e voters on t h e roll n u m - ber 2 0 2 8 0 0 0 . In 1 9 7 1 , 1 495 000 voters voted for the 4 w h i t e p a r t i e s .
9 6 , 5 % of t h i s electorate voted for a p a r t h e i d o r white supremacist r u l e . 3 . 5 % voted for a few moderate changes w i t h i n t h e f r a m e w o r k , a n d r e t u r n e d one moderate conservative politi- cian m o r e on h e r personality than h e r party s platform. T h e whole electorate wish t h e status q u o m a i n t a i n e d but differ in details of t h e application of white rule.
W h i t e rule is e n s h r i n e d not only in t h e Republican C o n s t i t u t i o n . race classifica- tion is part a n d parcel of t h e law and frame- work of society. Every person b o r n , alive a n d dead is classified. Blacks a r e classified f u r t h e r
according lo race, tribal origin, place of resid-
ence, finger p r i n t s , etc. Even voting r i g h t s and a voting record is to he k e p t . T h e delay in i m p l e m e n t i n g all this is that t h e G o v e r n m e n t
has yet to computerize it. I do not know w h e t h e r t h e c o m p u t e r will be supplied by English, F r e n c h or A m e r i c a n f i r m s .
T h e residence a n d r e g i m e n t a t i o n of Blacks a s m i g r a n t l a b o u r units is enforced by Pass Laws. Pass Laws m a k e c r i m e s of a u n i q u e k i n d — c r i m e relating to skin c o l o u r , crimes c o m m i t t e d only by Blacks. Over a ten-year period. 8 000 000 out of the 15 000 000 Black p o p u l a t i o n has been arrested a n d j a i l e d u n d e r t h e Pass Laws.
E v e r y d a y , 3 6 5 days a year, an average of 2 500 Africans are arrested u n d e r t h e Pass Laws a n d b r o u g h t to a n average t w o - m i n u t e h e a r i n g of their trial in C o u r t . T h e yearly total is at least 750 0 0 0 .
T h e daily average prison p o p u l a t i o n o n latest figures is 90 5 5 5 . In Britain it is 38 0 0 0 . B r i t a i n ' s p o p u l a t i o n is 5 5 000 0 0 0 ; S o u t h Africa's is 22 000 0 0 0 .
In 1 9 6 9 , 4 000 m o t h e r s with babies were a d m i t t e d t o prison — African m o t h e r s as Pass
Law offenders.
25 000 lashes are inflicted as corporal pun- i s h m e n t ; 24 6 6 3 on Blacks.
4 7 % of t h e world's h a n g i n g take place in S o u t h Africa, which for years h a s held t h e world's record in h a n g i n g people.
4 5 5 policemen have been convicted of as- sault in S o u t h Africa for 1, 2 , 3 or 4 convic- tions and everyone of t h e m retained in t h e police force. In B r i t a i n . 7 policemen out of 96 000 were convicted for assault over t h e s a m e period and all 7 dismissed.
P u n i s h m e n t w i t h o u t trial, a r b i t r a r y arrest, a n d detention is an everyday occurrence.
The Black Sank, December, 1971 Die Swart Serp, Desember 1971
That people should he punished wilhmil charge or trial is repugnant to all men in civilized societies. In South Africa it is neces- sary to uphold the society and an essential part of the framework. 1 000 people have heen
banned, house-arrested, banished without any charge or trial. After people have been pun-
ished by Courts, or acquitted by Courts, the Security Police still revenge themselves on these people, ban them, harrass and intimate
them and try to destroy their morale. 17 people are known to have died while in detention.
Indefinite detention in solitary confinement incommunicado is imposed at the discretion of the Security Police. Detainees are question- ed interminably and allegations of torture have been frequently made. It has been said by
authority that 7 of those who died hanged themselves while police have said of the other deaths that "they slipped on a piece of soap",
"fell down stairs", "slipped in the showers'"
and one we know j u m p e d from the seventh floor window of his interrogation room.
Ahmed Timol died in a fall from a 10th floor window.
In the richest land in Africa with a store- house of mineral wealth making it a land of great promise, what has 50 years of economic development and growth achieved? In its great
mining and industrial enterprise, what is the record ?
1969 in mining. Whites received an aver- age income pre month of $416, Black miners earned an average $25,20.
In 1969 in Commerce the same figures arc Whites $364 per m o n t h , Blacks $66.
In Industry, in Mining, in Commerce, all show the poverty gap widening — the whites getting richer, the blacky poorer. Most Blacks live below the breadline today. All figures indicate an increasing deterioration of the position. Whatever the arguments that econ- omic developments brings about improvement the facts show the reverse to he the case.
TUv P.lncl; Sash, December, 1971
la Health:
Infant mortality for Africans is shown as 121 per 1000, for Coloured* 132 per 1000 and for Whites 21.2 per 1000.
Kwahiorkor, a malnutrition disease, showed a 6 0 0 % increase over a four year period in
Port Elizabeth, where General Motors is estab- lished. In the neighbouring Bantustan of the Transkei, 4 0 % of all African children die of
Kwashiokor before reaching the age of 10.
In some areas of the Transkei the incidence of tuberculosis is 2 0 % of the population, and
Health officers say that poverty and the dis- ruption of family life caused by the migratory labour system arc major elements in this high incidence of T.B.
And so on and on. T h i s is the framework in which all investors must work and have worked. After all our development, this is the picture in 1970 after increases in the amount of Foreign investment. After the increases the position in South Africa deteriorated for the
Blacks.
T h e Blacks, however, will not forever be without a voice and without power. T h e White South Africans can strive to keep the Black down and keep the structure a white sup- remacist one. Every investor has a stake in
ing the structure white. In order to make his profit he must support the structure, even
improve its efficiency.
T h e African sees this. T h e African in South Africa recognizes it. T h e African outside South Africa recognizes it and
of course, a change will come. T h e part- nership of the White South African and the
foreign investors will be recognized for what it is, a partnership inevitably resulting in the suppression of the Blacks in their struggle
in South Africa for legitimate rights.
T h e foreign investors will therefore have a vested interest in the alienation of the rights of Africans in South Africa. They will lose the sympathy of Blacks everywhere. They will have to pay the price for such alienation and they may find that the profit now enjoyed by them
is not worth the price.
Dh Swart Scrnt Dv&ember 1971
