Calls for Divestment Continue

At a benefit screening of the film Cry Freedom last night, vocal figures in the South African anti-apartheid movement said the government said the government's recent reforms do not make divestment by Harvard or other American colleges unnecessary.

In fact, two international activists said at the event, organized by Harvard-Radcliffe Alumni Against Apartheid (HRAAA), that this is a particularly crucial time to maintain and even increase financial and political sanctions against South Africa.

"Nelson Mandela has been released but South Africa is still not free," said Mpho Tutu, daughter of South African Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu. The prominent archbishop, who has an honorary degree from Harvard, was elected last year as an HRAAA candidate to the Board of Overseers--the University's alumnielected governing board.

"It's very important to keep up the pressure," Tutu said.

Tutu, who directs a South African refugee scholarship fund in New York City, said at a reception before the event that her government's recent agreement to negotiate with the African National Congress (ANC) and to release ANC leader Nelson Mandela was in in large part a result of international pressure.

And although Harvard, in its refusal to divest of its South African-related stocks, may not have been part of this pressure in the past, Tutu said it was not yet too late for the University to take this initiative against the apartheid government.

"Now is no time to back down," Tutu said. "Apartheid is still firmly in place."

Similarly, HRAAA Executive Director Robert P. Wolff '54 said divestment by Harvard could provide an important extra impetus for the positive changes in South Africa that have only just begun.

"This is an absolutely pivotal moment in the development of South Africa," Wolff said. "it's right now that it's most important to keep the government moving in the right direction."

Speaking after Tutu, journalist Donald J. Woods--whose friendship with the late Black South African leader Stephen Biko is the subject of Cry Freedom--said the symbolic effect of Harvard's divestment would be even more important than its impact on the country's economy.

"We've got to keep the pressure on until apartheid is completely over--until people like Nelson Mandela can vote," said Woods, who until a few weeks ago was banned from his native South Africa.

Criticizing President Derek C. Bok for formulating his divestment policy based on the advice of those who have not been directly affected by the apartheid regime, Woods suggested that the Harvard chief executive would do better to talk to Black South Africans than to "white businessmen."

"For 12 long years, Bok has refused to consult with the victims," Woods said.

Woods, who was a fellow at Harvard's Nieman Foundation in 1979, is currently one of five candidates nominated by HRAAA for election to the 30-member Board of Overseers. Results of the vote are scheduled to be announced this Thursday.