Apartheid: a study in black and white.

Apartheid: A study in black and white

For more than two decades, the international community has mounted sustained pressures upon South Africa in order to terminate the system of apartheid and to realize self-determination for the people of Namibia. The important role played by TNCs in the South African economy and their exploitation of Namibian resources have been the subject of United Nations resolutions over the years, by which Member States are urged to prohibit or restrict the operations of TNCs in South Africa and Namibia. The Economic and Social Council, acting on recommendations of its Commission on Transnational Corporations, has adopted numerous resolutions calling on TNCs to terminate all further investments in South Africa and Namibia and to end collaboration with the South African Government.

In addition, divestment campaigns have been mounted by non-governmental organizations, labour unions, church groups and other concerned parties in home countries of TNCs to bring pressure on South Africa to abandon its apartheid system. However, some of these nations have not adopted comprehensive restrictions, and TNCs continue to operate in key sectors of the South African economy and to exploit the rich resources of Namibia.

South Africa has a total population of more than 31 million, of which blacks and coloured account for some 26.5 million (over 85 per cent). The country has a dual economy consisting of a modern sector controlled by whites, and impoverished rural areas reserved for blacks. The modern sector--mostly manufacturing, mining, modern agriculture and services--provides a large proportion of the country's gross domestic product and employs virtually all of the white labour force. However, blacks constitute the majority of the work force and tend to be concentrated in the lowest-paying jobs.

The white minority, comprising less than 15 per cent of the population, has allocated to itself about 87 per cent of the territory. The majority of the black population is restricted to the remaining 13 per cent--called "homelands', "bantustans', or "native states'-- overcrowded, poor and where the economy consists largely of subsistence agriculture. Given those conditions, large numbers of blacks must seek employment in the white areas; however, the apartheid laws severely limit their access to these areas.

Blacks are permitted in white areas in South Africa only for the purpose of serving the white economy, and while there, their movements are strictly controlled. They are prohibited from residing in any urban area for more than 72 hours unless they were born there, work there, or satisfy other stringent conditions.

In 1984, more than 1,000 TNCs maintained operations in South Africa, of which more than 400 are from the United States, 360 from the United Kingdom, and 140 from the Federal Republic of Germany. Other countries with significant numbers of TNCs operating in South Africa are: Switzerland (32); Australia (24); Canada (21); France (20); Sweden (18); and Netherlands (17). The total amount of foreign direct investment in South Africa at the end of 1983 was estimated at between $15.5 and $17 billion.

The estimated work force in South Africa is about 10.1 million, of whom 8.1 million (more than 80 per cent) are black. TNCs employ some 600,000, of whom 400,000 are black--equivalent to only 5 per cent of the total black work force.

TNCs transfer capital and technology to South Africa, provide markets for the country's exports and supply a large part of its imports. Many of these goods and services, especially modern technology, contribute to South Africa's economic growth, and provide much of the country's international transportation and communication links. Transnational banks play an important role in providing both the public and private sectors in South Africa with access to international finance, and much of South Africa's foreign debt of about $24 billion is owed to transnational banks. In recent months, provision of external finance by the international banking community, particularly critical to the maintaining of South Africa's internal and external financial position, is being renegotiated.

Within South Africa, TNCs account for approximately one tenth of the country's capital stock and up to a quarter of its gross domestic product. But the significance of TNCs is greater than such figures indicate because of the catalytic role they play in certain areas. For instance, three of the country's oil refineries are owned by TNCs, which also own more than four fifths of South Africa's retail outlets for petroleum. TNCs are the market leaders in computers and electronics, and supply most of the country's computer imports.

The two largest banks in South Africa--Barclays and Standard Chartered--are affiliates of banks in the United Kingdom. In Namibia, three TNCs hold approximately 90 per cent of the country's mining assets in base metals, uranium and diamonds, industries which account for about half of Namibia's gross domestic product and more than three quarters of its exports.

The involvement of TNCs in South Africa is extended to Namibia through South Africa's virtual annexation of the Territory. Namibia's economy is closely tied to that of South Africa, and reflects its apartheid structure in a more rudimentary form. Two thirds of the estimated 1.5 million population live in rural areas where the economy relies predominantly on subsistence agriculture. The bulk of the black population provides a pool of cheap labour for the white economy.

In Namibia, some 110,000 workers, or almost half of the black work force outside the agricultural sector, are migrant workers on short-term contracts, subject to the controls instituted under the apartheid system in South Africa. Black workers are generally prohibited from taking jobs of their choice and from moving freely around the country in search of employment. While it is legally possible to organize trade unions, the formation of the National Union of Namibia Workers in 1977 was countered by the organization by the South African Administration in Namibia and employers in the mining industry of separate management-worker liaison committees to negotiate employment conditions. Legislation enacted by the Administration in 1978 made it illegal for trade unions to have any links with political parties, and workers engaging in what is considered to be political activity are dismissed.

Following is a sampling of facts about TNC involvement in various sectors of the South African and Namibian economies:

Photo: Workers in Windhoek fur factory.

Photo: The finished product: Luxurious "persian lamb' from Namibian pelts.

Photo: Namibian diamonds.

Photo: Black workers man the equipment used to dig the diamonds that are primary among Namibian riches.

Photo: For black labourers in southern Africa--the backbone of a thriving economy--it is often a bleak and comfortless existence.