south africa: apartheid debt and reparations

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http://www.actsa.org/Debt/reparations.htm
Reparations for victims of apartheid

"We are limited in South Africa because our democratic Government
inherited a debt which at the time we were servicing at the rate of 30
billion rand a year. That is thirty billion we did not have to build
houses, to make sure our children go to the best schools, and to ensure
that everybody has the dignity of having a job and a decent income."
Nelson Mandela

A Campaign has been building up.

In 1997 the South African "Coalition against Apartheid Debt" in its
submission to the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" requested an
investigation into the financing of apartheid by foreign banks.

The Apartheid Debt & Reparations Campaign was then officially launched
in Cape Town in November 1998 and has been running ever since,
campaigning in various ways for the cancellation of illegitimate
apartheid debt, the return of profits made from apartheid debt
servicing, and compensation from businesses that profited from apartheid
abuses.

Across Southern Africa and Europe the issues were raised consistently
through media campaigns, popular education and mobilization, direct
meetings with Swiss and German government officials, public events to
which the banks especially were invited, ongoing research, and several
international conferences.

This activity took place particularly in South Africa, Germany and
Switzerland, with supporting events in Zambia, Namibia, Ireland, UK and
the Netherlands, and endorsements from Jubilee campaigns throughout the
world.

Repeated calls were made for the matter to be resolved decisively
through the convening of an international conference that would include
the relevant corporations, political authorities, campaigning
organizations, and victims groups.

However, such a conference has never taken place. At the end of 2001,
the campaign took a decision to file legal suits as a strategy to ensure
that the issues were addressed. Alongside the legal claims, which have
now been launched, the international campaign continues.

The Survivors and Victims of Apartheid

"My brother is remembered here and I am here today because I want to see
justice. We want reparations from those international companies and
banks that profited from the blood and misery of our fathers, mothers,
brothers and sisters", said Lulu Petersen at the Hector Petersen
monument in Soweto on the International Action Day on 17 June 2002, when
class action suits were announced against American and Swiss Banks.

Sigqibo Mpendulo lost his two twin sons Samora and Sadat who were killed
by the security police in 1993. "They were looking for me but they
killed my sons. I came the following day and found all my children dead.
The reason why I am here today is this is the only place that can heal
me."

Sigqibo Mpendulo, Lungisile Ntsebeza, Themba Mequbela and Dorothy Molefi
are the main plaintiffs in the class action suit against the American
Citigroup, Swiss UBS and Credit Suisse. Dorothy Molefi was the mother of
Hector Petersen, one of the first victims killed in the Soweto massacre
of 1976. The case symbolises the struggle of more than 20,000 people who
have been recognised as apartheid victims by the "Truth and
Reconciliation Commission". It also symbolises the struggle by the
majority of the black population that is still suffering under apartheid
debts and damages.

Apartheid Debts in South Africa

Apartheid debts, in the narrow sense of the word, are those debts which
the newly elected democratic government inherited from the former
apartheid regime. Many of these are domestic debts, of which nearly 40%
are based on the fact that the apartheid state restructured the public
pension fund in its final days in power from a pay-as-you-go system to a
capital interest scheme. Foreign debts owed by the public sector
amounted at the end of 1993 to US$ 15 billion. Adding the debts of the
banking sector, including the Reserve Bank, and of the private sector,
the total foreign apartheid debt amounted to US$ 25 billion.

"Victims are still waiting for a fair deal from the TRC process. They
would like to see the speedy implementation of final reparations in the
form recommended by the TRC with a review of who is entitled to them.
They would like to see social, medical and educational services made
preferentially available to victims. It has been a long time since
promises were made to victims by the TRC. Their needs are more urgent
than ever and their trust in the process has been deeply damaged by the
delays and the present attitude towards the demands of victims."
Press release by Khulumani Support Group, 2 October 2001, three years
after the publication of the final report of the TRC

The apartheid regime not only oppressed the people of South Africa but
also waged war against the frontline states that supported the
liberation movements. The main targets of the military raids and the
military support of local rebel movements were Mozambique and Angola.
Over two million people died in Angola and Mozambique as a result of
systematic destabilisation by apartheid South Africa. According to
estimates the resulting economic costs for the former frontline states
of the region amount to US$ 115 billion.

The case of Zambia
Alongside Tanzania under Julius Nyerere, it was Zambia under Kenneth
Kaunda that provided leadership in the struggle of the former frontline
states against apartheid. Zambia is still paying the price of its
solidarity today. In a country in which 80% of the population live below
the poverty line, a quarter of the budget is spent on servicing the
debt. According to research by Jubilee Zambia in November 2000, Zambia's
apartheid-caused debts amount to US$ 5.3 billion and the
apartheid-related total costs are estimated to be in the region of US$
19 billion. Three times Zambia's entire debt stock. In Zambia alone,
100,000 people lost their lives in the struggle against apartheid
between 1964 and 1994.

The case of Mozambique
Mozambique, one of the poorest countries of the world is, alongside
Angola, the country that has been devastated most by apartheid terror.
Mozambique borrowed US$ 7.5 billion in order to protect itself against
attack by apartheid South Africa. These apartheid-caused debts are
higher than the present debt stock of US$ 6 billion. For this reason
social movements in Southern Africa are demanding the total cancellation
of Mozambique's debt and for the involvement of civil society in order
to ensure that the freed up money benefits those communities that
suffered most under apartheid.

The case of Zimbabwe
Even without the present crisis Zimbabwe is locked in a debt trap. In
2001, Zimbabwe was indebted to the amount of US$ 667 per capita. Already
in 1998, the last full year Zimbabwe paid its foreign debt, the debt
service ratio of 38% was the third highest in the world after Brazil and
Burundi. The basic stock of these debts, accumulated since independence
in 1980, goes back to apartheid-caused debts, which according to
estimates amount to US$ 5.3billion.

The Supporters and Beneficiaries of Apartheid

Apartheid's four main credit lenders, covering 90% of long-term loans,
were the US, Germany, Switzerland and the UK.

The case of German Banks

The German net capital export to South Africa between 1985 and 1993
amounted to e 2.13 billion. Much of this provided financing for the
public sector of the apartheid regime, including parastatals like ESKOM
and SASOL. 27.3% of the foreign debt of the public sector of the
apartheid state at the end of 1993 was owed to German Banks.

German banks and companies between 1971 and 1993 made e 4.2 billion in
odious profits from their business with apart-heid.

In September 1985 the apartheid regime had to declare a moratorium on
debt repayments. German and Swiss banks played a leading role in the
"Technical Committee", which from early 1986 granted the regime very
generous rescheduling of its debts, without any political conditions,
thus prolonging the life span of apartheid.

The case of British Companies

In 1976, Barclays Bank bought £6 million worth of South African
government defence bonds and three years later invested £11 million in
South Africa's oil parastatal, SASOL.

The 1962 edition of "Who Owns Whom" listed 333 British companies with
South African associates or subsidiaries, this had risen to over 500 by
1971.

In 1962 Britain's ICI and South Africa's De Beers each put £5 million
into AECI (African Explosives and Chemicals Industries) to set up three
new plants producing tear gas, ammunition for small arms, anti-tank and
aircraft rockets.

Leylands South African subsidiary supplied Land Rovers that were used by
the South African police against students in the 1976 Soweto uprising.

Royal Dutch/Shell's subsidiary, Shell South Africa, was involved in
extensive operations in the petroleum, mining and chemical industries of
South Africa and Namibia, with an estimated turnover of more than US$2
billion in South Africa in 1989.

Call for International Support from SANGOCO
(South African National NGO Coalition June 1998)

Apartheid-caused debt and the question of reparations payments:

The people of Southern Africa are still paying the cost of apartheid.

We believe it is immoral and unjustified that the people should pay
twice for apartheid.

Our central claims:

Loans to the apartheid regime and its agents are "odious debts" which
were taken to suppress the people of South Africa. These are not the
responsibility of the people and of their own governments and should not
be repaid.

Loans given to neighbouring states to help them resist South African
destabilisation should be cancelled. These debts are now an unpayable
burden, which is preventing reconstruction. To expect repayment and
heavy economic debts is unfair.

Apartheid linked loans that have already been repaid were paid from the
suffering of the people of the region; this money should be returned to
southern Africa to help it to rebuild.

Those companies and banks which refused to heed the international call
for sanctions and disinvestments profited from apartheid, helped to keep
the apartheid regime in power, and extended the suffering of the people
of Southern Africa. These profits are tainted and these companies and
banks should now make reparations payments to the people of Southern
Africa.

International Apartheid Debt and Reparations Campaign

For further information please contact ACTSA or:

KOSA - Koordination Südliches Afrika
August Bebel Str. 62
D-33602 Bielefeld
Germany
Tel. + 49 (0)521 9864851
Fax + 49 (0)521 63789
Email: kosa@ kosa.org
Web: www.kosa.org

ENIASA
Web: www.eniasa.org

Aktion Finanzplatz
Schweiz
Drahtzugstr. 28
CH-4057 Basel
Switzerland
Tel. +41 (0)616931700
Fax. +41 (0)6839896
Email: afp@ aktionfinanzplatz.ch

Jubilee South Africa Apartheid Debt & Reparations Campaign
c/ o SACBC Justice & Peace Department
Khanya House.
PO Box 941. Pretoria. 001
South Africa
Tel. +27 (0)123236458
Fax. +27 (0)123266218
Email: ngabriel@ sacbc.org.za, ljohnson@ sabc.org.za
Web: www.aidc.org.za/j2000

Jubilee Zambia
P.O. Box 37774
10101 Lusaka
Zambia
Tel. +260-(0)1-290410
Fax. +260-(0)1-290759
Email: debtjctr@ zamnet.zm
Web: www.jctr.org.zm

KASA
c/o Werkstatt Ökonomie
Obere Seegasse 18
D-69124 Heidelberg
Germany
Tel. +49 (0)6221 785545
Fax. +49 (0)6221 781183
Email: theo.kneifel@ woek.de
Web: www.woek.de