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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 4, 1986
PAGE 17
are not so easy to identify. The most purposeful opposition,
the African National Congress, in no way could be described as
having democracy as one of its goals. In short, South Africa
looks less like the Philippines than like some of those places
where the use of U.S. muscle against existing friendly regimes
has contributed to an ultimate political collapse, with
enormous costs in human lives. South Vietnam�!!!!!.£2!!!!. to
mind.
One result of the Senate's action will be a great increase in hypocritical
behavior around the world as companies and countries trade with South
Africa while denying they do so. The September 1 BUSINESS WEEK reported
in an article entitled •can Pretoria Evade Sanctions? Let Us Count the
Ways••••:
If the West slaps harsh sanctions on South Africa, trade
experts say, the flow of gold to market will continue unabated.
·There's no way,• says Keith Smith, managing director of London
gold trader Mocatta & Goldsmid Ltd., •to find out whose gold it
is.• The same anonymous character marks the trade in a lot of
other things flowing into and out of South Africa.
South
African shoppers
can
easily
find
wine glasses from
Czechoslovakia and shotguns from the Soviet Union--countries
with a flat ban on any South Africa trade.
Indeed,
Johannesburg computer salesman Gavin Ternent calls a personal
computer on. his shelves a •sanctions-buster.• It comes from
Taiwan.
But should the Taiwanese impose sanctions against
South Africa, Ternent says, local manufacturers have been
assured of obtaining licenses to make the machines locally••••
The techniques of evasion are already widespread and common.
Country-of-origin labels on textile exports are frequently
altered.
South African citrus fruits are packed in crates
marked •product of Mozambique.•
Even steel's or!gins are
obscured by rout!ng exports through Singapore or other
countries. And more sanctions will only inspire new evasive
tactics.
Says a South African business lobbyist in London:
•It will be a world of middlemen, front companies, and bills of
lid'ingwitli aifferlng destinations.
1
• • •
Exporters assume that
European---nirddlemen and traders in Israel, Taiwan, and South
Korea will keep goods flowing to and from South Africa••••
To combat bans on landing rights overseas, state-owned South
African Airways is negotiating to repaint its jetliners and
lease them to Swaziland and other neighbors dependent on
Pretoria.
Indeed, a number of small countries, under less
international scrutiny than the major Western nations, are
well-positioned to benefit from sanctions. Observers say such
East bloc countries as Bul � aria and Rumania are even offering
tc>'icF9ii �-betweenS:-
1
T ere a�countries-aia�e rubbing
tlierr-hands with glee,• says a British executive.
•The
sophisticated stands of the industrialized world are going to
be made a mockery of.•