Abstract

The article comments on American private enterprise in South Africa. American private enterprise in South Africa has been severely criticized in the past few years by such diverse groups as the Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, Baptist Church, and the Polaroid Revolutionary Workers Movement. The three church groups want all American enterprise to quit South Africa. They maintain that General Motors, other U.S. manufacturers, large U.S. banks, and the rest of the 375 U.S. enterprises in South Africa maintain and nourish apartheid through their operations in that country. United Nations data on monthly earnings in 1968-1969 illustrates the highly discriminatory nature of the South African wage system. The South African economy has grown at a rapid rate in the past decade compared to other nations of the world. Many Americans in charge of South African operations for the U.S. companies are satisfied with the present order of things. They were sent to South Africa, they point out, to run a profitable business operation. To accomplish this end good relations with the South African government were considered essential.