Sanctioning Apartheid - KORA

The Impact of Sanctions and Disimatshmt 107
The fact that cxrrporations have disinvested under pressure
both political and econsmic, rather than doing so in order to
strengthen the cause of liberatton, has reduced their meaning for
black South Africans. There is a widely held view that companies
are leaving bemuse profits are down, or because they are
under threat of losing business abroad. The manner in which
disjnv&ment has been taking place has strengthened these
doubts. Management sellouts to l d white managers, or to lod
or foreign companies, at discounted prices and with all production
systems and licensing arrangements continuing, have meant
that d%hv&mmt has turned out to ?x a very diffment process
from that anticipated. Coprations are not leaving; no mi& is
dting; pressure on the government is not that significant;
some white businessmen are in fact benefitting and some black
workers, probably not many in number yet, are e g g Blacks
called for a parti& type of action against apartheid. They feel
they have been tricked.
The Reap a-tition's continuing c d on the ANC to
renounce violence continues to cause hostility. It was widely
seen in the following tern: as selective, since the US itself uses
violence when it deems this necessary and supports violence
when it thinks it is advantageous to its interests (the US should
by now be aware that black South Africans have a very long
W r y of peaceful resistance which made no headway); as un-
&tic, given the govenunent's handling of black opposition;
and, ultimately, as serving as an excuse for refusing to sugporl
the movement. The overt support given to UNlTA also centinues
to cause a great deal of anger among black South Afkam.
This is seen as putting the US Eirmly into a military alliance with
the South African government. For some it therefore becomes
difficult to see how the US can ever sindy oppclse the government
when it has chosen to fight on the same side.
Capitalism, with which America is so closely identified, is
under haeasing suspicion in South Afrim As khis study has
demomtmtpd elsewhere, blacks are coming to identify capitalism
with apartheid. In tandem these systems have exploited them for
a long timetime There are those who make the point that true
private entqrise does not operate in the country. Nevertheless
most people interviewed do appear to identify the system as such