APARTHEID DEBT AND THE DEMAND

APARTHEID DEBT AND THE DEMAND

FOR REPARATIONS

One of the strongest contributors to the debt of several southern African nations is the influence on borrowing of resistance to the Apartheid regime of Pretoria during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Zambia, for instance, had to borrow heavily to repair infrastructure damaged by bombings from Pretoria and Salisbury, to re-route its exports and imports, to host refugees and to strengthen its defence forces.

In the past few years there has been growing attention to this “odious debt“ and a strong call for its outright cancellation. Moreover, many southern groups are calling for “reparations“ similar to what has been paid to Jewish groups because of exploitatative economic actions during World War Two.

I attended a major international conference held in Bonn, Germany, in December 2000, where this issue was addressed. I presented a paper summarising the findings of JCTR research on Zambia‘s apartheid-caused debt. (This study will soon be available from our office.) Of great importance for the Debt Project and the Jubilee campaign is the strong call from this meeting: “Reparations for the victims of apartheid – now and not in 50 years.”

The call targeted in particular German banks that had continued to loan money to Pretoria, despite international condemnation of the regime and its inhuman activities. But the implications of its demand go far beyond only German banks. Excerpts from this call are presented here:

Considering:

· that the system of apartheid was condemned as a crime against humanity in 1973

· that within the United Nations there were several calls for political and economic sanctions towards South Africa between 1962 and 1993

· that nevertheless German and also Swiss, British and American banks supported the regime with loans and credits, extending its rule for many years

· that this was against international law.

Therefore we demand that German banks and enterprises compensate the people of Southern Africa in full for the brutal repression that they helped finance.

The apartheid terror was not just geared towards the majority of people in South Africa but also towards people in Swaziland, Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. If these countries were not attacked militarily, they were destabilised politically, economically and socially. On the basis of a UNICEF report the damage caused directly and indirectly by apartheid is estimated at US $ 78 billion.

We therefore call for the cancellation of the apartheid-caused debt of these countries as well.

We raise our demands in agreement with The International Campaign on Apartheid-caused debts, with the South African NGO-Coalition (SANGOCO), Jubilee 2000 and other social movements from Southern Africa, and the Jubilee South movement.

Charity Musamba

JCTR Staff

Lusaka

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