City Will Review South Africa Stock

The Cambridge City Council will vote tonight on a proposal requiring the city's Retirement Board to identify and suggest ways of removing city holdings in companies doing business in South Africa.

City residents voted by a 2-1 margin last fall in favour of a referendum requiring the city to divest money invested in companies with South Africa connections.

One Bold Step

"This motion is the first step toward fulfilling that mandate," City Councilor David Sullivan, who will sponsor the bill along with City Councilor Saundra Graham, said last night.

Observes believe the council is likely to pass the measure eventually, although opponents may delay the action for a week.

If passed tonight, the bill would give the city's Retirement Board and assistant city manager for fiscal affairs until March 1 to "make suggestions as to how to implement" last fall's referendum.

Most of the city's stock holdings and other investments are under the control of the Retirement Board, which funds employee pensions.

Sullivan said a quick check of board holdings disclosed "several corporations known to be involved in South Africa," including the First National Bank of Boston. "There is very definitely plenty of room for improvement," Sullivan said.

The City Council "will have a considerable amount of say in deciding what the Retirement Board should do," Sullivan said. Just the pressure that would be created by a council vote would be enough to get them moving," he added.

Communities in other parts of the country have divested of holdings in companies connected with South Africa, but Cambridge city solicitor Russell Highly has offered no official legal opinion on divestment. Highly was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Not the Same

Harvard agreed to sponsor shareholder resolutions asking for improvements in the practices of companies doing business in South Africa after student groups demanded divestiture over the last two years.

Sullivan said yesterday he was "not so impressed by the power of shareholder resolutions," adding he would press for "straight out" divestiture of city holdings.

Sullivan announced his plans to members of the Harvard-Racine Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DOC) last night. DOC backed Sullivan's council campaign last fall as well as working in support of the South Africa referendum question.