the churches and southern africa - KORA

SACTU APPEALS FOR SOLIDARITY AT THE ILO
MEETING
At the June meeting of the International Labor
Organization in Geneva, the South African Congress of
Trade Unions appealed for solidarity with the struggle of
black workers in South Africa. At the same time, the
I LO's director-general called for a "fundamental
transformation of South Africa into a society offering
equal rights and opportunities, and a just share in its
wealth, to all its citizens."
Mr. Mark William Shope, Secretary General, and M s.
Ray Alexander executive committee member,
represented SACTU at the I LO meeting, which was
attended by delegates from governments, employers
organizations, and labor unions from most countries. In a
memorandum circulated to all delegates, SACTU asked
for assistance in winning certain basic rights:
1. Democratic rights-one man, one vote.
2. Abolition of pass laws-the badge of slavery.
3. The legal recognition of African trade unions. The
right to collective bargaining and to strike.
4. The abolition of industrial color bars.
5. The obolition of migratory labor systems.
6. The abolition of the compound (barracks) system.
7. No sale of arms to South Africa.
8. No trade with South Africa.
9. No technicians or any skilled manpower to go to
South Africa.
(Sources: SACTU memorandum; excerpts have been
published in U.N. Document 14/72, Unit on Apartheid,
ILO Director General, U.N. Document 13/72, Unit on
Apartheid.)
BOO K REVIE W
INSIPE NAMIBIA: a booklet published on US Business
in I/mibia
The Africa Fund (associated with the American
Committee on Africa) has joined with the Program to
Combat Racism of the World Council of Churches to
publish a booklet entitled NAMIBIA: U.S. CORPORATE
INVOLVEMENT. Beginning with a brief economic
portrait of the territory, the publication presents a survey
of American policy, investment, exploration, and trade.
Detailed treatment is given to the Tsumeb Corporation
owned by Newmont Mining Corporation and American
Metals Climax.
Authors Winifred Courtney .and Jennifer Davis
conclude that a neutral role for U.S. Corporations is
impossible. The basic conflict between African people and
the white minority government dictates that foreign
business activity "plays an important role in bolstering
the illegal South African regime. " by contributing taxes
and foreign exchange. Further, it legitimizes South
Africa's political control and depletes non-renewable
mineral resources.
The 32-page pamphlet calls for the education and
mobilization of many thousands of Americans "to end
U.S. aid and comfort for South African racism." It can be
ordered from The Africa Fund, 164 Madison Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10016 at a cost of $.50 each.
INSIDE
NAMIBIA
NAMIBIA STIFFENS RESISTANCE TO SOUTH
AFRICAN CONTROL
In a joint statement released by the headmen and tribal
executive, the Damara people of Namibia have refused to
accept South Africa's proposal to grant "partial
self-government" to their designated homeland in the
territory's far northwest. Only about 10% of the 60,000
Damaras live in the prescribed area.
The proposal is part of a South African scheme to
divide Namibia into 12 separate areas for the African
population, thereby diffusing organized opposition to
occupation by South Africa. In late June the
Government-appointed Chief Councilor of the Ovambos,
whose people form the majority of the Namibian
population, announced that Pretoria had fixed a timetable
to grant a larger measure of autonomy to the Ovambo
area.
Damaras are the second largest ethnic group in the
territory, and up to now have been regarded by the South
African Government as compliant. The Johannesburg Star
sees the Damaras' rejection of the Bantustan plan as "an
ultimatum which threatens to wreck its plans to apply its
policy of multinational development to their people."
(Aug. 7, 1972)
The statement described the "so-called Damara
homeland" as part of a policy under which "we are being
systematically disinherited and made strangers in our
land." Characterizing their situation as "a form of
slavery," they maintained that the country belonged to all
of its people, and could not be divided. "We are
dissatisfied with South African administration and will
never be satisfied with it," they said.
Like the Ovambos, Damaras had been taken for
granted by the white Government, which appoints and
maintains tribal "chiefs" to echo official policy. The
myth of Ovambo acquiescence was shattered last
December when a strike by 15,000 contract laborers
crippled Namibia's economy, halting work at mines and
factories for three months. In the aftermath of the strike,
South Africa overhauled the system which guaranteed
cheap labor to white-owned industries, and set up labor
bureaus to replace the centralized South West African
Native Labour Association.
Changes were largely cosmetic, however, and it is the
regulations accompanying the restructuring which have
provoked Damara leaders. Among the new requirements is
compulsory registration of black women for work in the
white-controlled towns.