Kennedy Told Sanctions Hurt S. Africa Blacks
DURBAN, South Africa — Zulu leader Gatsha Buthelezi, chief of South Africa’s largest tribe, told Sen. Edward M. Kennedy today that pulling U.S. investment out of South Africa to protest its racial policies hurts blacks more than the ruling white minority.
“It is no use doing things just in order to salve consciences,” Buthelezi said at the start of his talks with Kennedy. “To exert pressures which do more harm to the oppressed than to the oppressors is madness.”
While the two met privately in the Hotel Royal, more than 200 members of Buthelezi’s Inkatha Party demonstrated outside, welcoming Kennedy but opposing any moves to reduce American business interests in South Africa.
The black leader’s supporters waved banners saying, “We Welcome American Companies in South Africa Provided They Advance Justice for Blacks,” and “Disinvestment Is Not Supported by Black South Africans.”
Buthelezi spent 90 minutes with the Massachusetts Democrat, then urged him to step outside the hotel and view the demonstration. Kennedy obliged briefly.
Kennedy is in South Africa for a fact-finding tour before the issue of economic sanctions against South Africa comes up in Congress this year.
Today’s protest was the fourth time Kennedy has encountered blacks demonstrating about his visit.
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