European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 16, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes monday september 16, 1985 columns & comments Carl Rowan White businessmen in Johannesburg show courage i Dilim k we have seen the first Little signs that things arc getting so bad in South Africa that White people whose lives and fortunes Are at slake arc going to make the better. As the apartheid government of Pictor Botha has stepped up its killing arrests and other repressions in a desperate Effort to silence the protests of Blacks coloureds and asians a grave financial crisis has fallen Over that country. Once prosperous companies in Johannesburg Cape town Durban have been told by Chase Manhattan Bank in new York that they won t get any More Loans. Bank of America in san Francisco and other Banks in the United states and Europe Are calling in Loans that Are due. South Africa with a foreign debt of about j17 billion does t have enough Gold reserves and foreign Exchange to make the payments demanded and Many More Loans Are to come due in the next few months. Worse still angry Black miners have been poised for weeks to strike the Gold mines that produce almost half of South Africa s foreign Exchange. Smaller wonder then that four business organizations in South Africa which represent most of the nation s Industry have now urged the Botha regime to end the burgeoning crisis and begin negotiations with Black leaders including Nelson Mandela who has been in prison for 23 years because he was the most vehement and effective Black opponent of apartheid. V find a bit of Hope that a racial War can be averted Ien business Day. A National financial newspaper says editorially thai a healthy Economy and the utterly racist system of air Lucid Are mutually  the brutal fact is that there arc no economic or non political measures we can Lake to change the Situa Tion said business Day. The quantum leap necessary now to ensure future Prosperity and the ultimate survival of Whites is entirely  Gavin Kelly chairman of the Anglo american corp., the giant Industrial Complex said it is necessary for the government to enter into real negotiations with representatives of All groups in South Africa so As to establish a new political system of genuine Power sharing. Those arc assertions of profound importance especially in the face of efforts by the Boina government to use shotguns tear Gas. Rubber bullets and the arrests of children preachers and others without charge or trial so As to perpetuate White supremacy. Business Day has twice within a fortnight called for Botha s resignation As of her important Whites will do once they see their businesses disintegrating in a rubble of relentless racism. The editors of business Day know As president Rea Gan apparently does not that the Botha regime ii not reformist but is using him and . Conservatives like Pat Buchanan the White House director of communications to spread the notion that while apart Heid is repugnant White minority Rule into eternity is in the . National interest. Aside from the Hope generated by the stances taken by White businessmen in South Africa we have reason to be heartened also by evidence thai the state depart ment has thrown off the Buchanan line and is beginning to be about half As Brave and Wise As Are tic Hite business leaders in South Africa. South Africa s association of Chambers of Commerce its Federated chamber of industries business Day and others manifesting the courage to urge embracing non Whites politically and economically and thus avoid suicidal racial strife need support from the United slates. Can president Reagan be less courageous in fighting injustice than those White businessmen in Johannesburg and Cape town who face hour to hour the Wrath of the Botha regime c Kiwi America Syndicate Tom Wicker Reagan must be saved from himself on apartheid president Reagan has been forced by Congress and events to become an Active if reluctant ally of the South african majority in its struggle for fair participation in South african life. To push Reagan further As democrats in Congress now Are trying to do risks reversing this important development and offers no real gain for anyone. The sanctions Reagan s executive order imposed on South Africa were too Little too Laic and too involuntary As democrats contend. They nevertheless placed the president of the United states formally where he belongs on the Side of Freedom Justice the political rights of the South african majority and the future. For that. Congress and the democrats can take much credit. Reagan issued his executive order it s Clear to head off the stronger sanctions the democratic House already had approved and the Senate clearly would have passed had he not acted first. Owing to his inexplicable be Lief that the afrikaner government is Bent on real Reform rather than real repression he Hod promised to veto that Bill and there s no reason to suppose that he d change his mind if Congress still insists on sending it to his desk. Instead there s every reason to suppose Reagan would veto the sanctions Bill Given his dim understanding of South Africa and since near party me votes Sug Gest that a two thirds majority to override him could not be achieved in the Senate. What gain can there be for anyone if the president of the United states is seen by the world to use his constitutional Powers on be half of a racist repressive government and against Freedom Justice the political rights of South africans and the future with con Gress unable to reverse him that outcome manifestly would not impose More severe sanctions. And anyway such sanctions would not necessarily have much effect on developments in South Afri Ca which will be determined primarily by the South african people not by  pressures. And it seems Clear that however determined their resistance the afrikaners Are not finally going to be Able to stifle the huge Black majority by violence or to satisfy it with limited reforms Short of real political and economic participation. Last month Clive Mennell a leading South african businessman Active in efforts to Bridge the Black White Gap told a meeting of the National african Feder ated chamber of Commerce and Industry that the nation needed to move away swiftly and conclusively from the body of Laws and the weight of customs and conventions which have restricted no cursed our  heading the list of changes he called vital was participation by All South africans in the political decision making process that governs their  when that participation comes and it will. South Africa will be a vastly changed society but no less strategic and important to the West than it is today. Reagan s executive order was a reluctant and limited signal of sup port but it was marginally the right Sig Nal. The probable veto of a sanctions Bill on the other hand followed by a congressional failure to override would be a disastrous signal of disdain. Congressional democrats moreover have made Clear their support for South african Blacks. The democratic party is overwhelmingly supported by american Blacks. Other americans while generally opposed to afrikaner repression May not be so Clear about what Steps this country should take thus the democrats could not be sure of further political gains from pushing through a sanctions Bill Ronald Reagan has promised to veto. Therefore the Best thing the democrats now can do for South Africa for their country and even for themselves is to help save the president from himself c . Tolmei Newi sort la and Don t forget to enforce the latest order Only one funeral at a time