Sanctioning Apartheid - KORA

Gold mtd I ntmW Sanctions against South AjWa
published tmde figures, and the state of Wcial &irs in South Africa
that apartheid gold was getting out to the market. The chances of
keeping the shipments hidden from airline and airport workersI van
drivem, bank clerksI etc, would be very slim. Any amateur sIeuth could
easily find out which country was importing the gold. The opemtion
would be so large that the Swiss goverrunent would have to be a party
to fhe program. The South African gold trade is an important but very
tiny part of world or even Swiss handal activity. The chances of the
Swiss government sacrificing its position in the international gold trade
to defend apartheid annot be high. And, as has been stated earlier, the
earnings in the gold market would not be affectd by a ban on South
Mrimninpors.
Appendix 4
As Table 1 shows, eight countries (the United States, West
GermanyI Swibland, FranceI My, the Netherlands, BelgiumI and
Japan) and hve inkmational organizations (the IMF and the HMCP) hold
27,400 tons of gold, or 80% of the Weds resmes, between them This
is equal to 40 years' produdion $om Suth African mines, Acmrdingly
there should be two "strings" to the sanctiore firstly, a m d
disposal of part of the national ma, and, secondly, pressure on these
major hmders to cease their purchasw and join the program In
particular, those nations with very little or no gold to sell amid seek
"swap" sales by camtries with a proportionately large holding. India,
for instance, with reserves only sufficient to cover seven years' fabrio-
.tion if new South African gold is excluded, wuld use its regional
importance fo press Japan and Taiwan to adjust its poliaes.
In the last few years the gold price has been propped up by
purdrases from just two muntrkI Japan and Taiwan. Althwgh both
these countries am very friendly towards South AfrimI the first being
South Ahica's top bdiq partner and the semnd being i& bp new
investor, neither country chose to buy the hundreds of tons of gold they
have purchased in the last the years directly from Swth Africa. The
purrhases were made in the US in a cynical attempt to make both
countries' massive positive balance of payments with the US look
smaller. h purchases nwertheless helped to increase the price of
gold tremendously for a short perid just when South Africa needed a