Sanctioning Apartheid - KORA

3[P6 Sancfwning Apartheid
flying to Johannesburg. The British Airways manager in mid-
1988 declined to comment on the present profitability of the
flight but was quoted as saying that '1 think the best way to put
it is to say it is successful We anticipate that it will be very busy
very soon. It is a very important de~elopment."~ A rumor in
May of 1987 that a five star hotel would be built near the airport
lends credence to this view, as does the announcement more
recently that the Botswana Devdopment Corporation in partnership
with the Sheraton Corporation and Bouygygs France would
build a P30 million hotel of 200 rooms incorporating a gymnasium
and conference facilities as well as shops, a golf course' and
Swimming POOL"
Another example of what might be effdvely sanctions
busting through disinvestment in South &ca and/or reinvestment
in Botswana is a new subsidiary (one of six in Africa) of the
American multinational Colgate Palmolive built in Gaborone.
The factory was reported to represent an investment of PI
million and would employ about 100 citizens.'.' It seems
doubtful that Colgate Palmolive would locate one of only six
African subsidiaries in Botswana unless it saw a market develop
ing beyond the boundaries of Botswana itself. From Botswana
it could perhaps develop markets in the SAIXX countries and in
the mmmon customs area, ie., in South Africa. Its South Alrican
business then would be shielded &om criticism on the grounds
that its production is located there. This might be indicative of
a move by international capital to disinvest in the South African
economy coupled with a re-investment in its immediate Wphery
.
It would therefore appear that the produdive infrastructure
to engage in sanctions busting, if on a modest scale, exists in the
Botswana economy. More importantly, the ownership and
psssession of that ~tructure indicates that there is a real
potential for its use in that way. This applies not only to cPi_rect
South African inberests in the Botswana economy but also to
international capital as well, which has taken a recent and serious
interest in "development opportunities" in Botswana
Against the existence of the opportunities available and costs
of breaking sanctions through Botswana must be set a comparison
of similar opportunities and costs elsewhere. Swaziland, for