Nobel Winner Tutu Attacks Investments in South Africa

In a four hour Harvard visit yesterday, Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond M Tutu charged that U.S. investment in South Africa directly supports apartheid, his country's state mandated system of segregation

Tutu told a Memorial Church audience of almost 500 listeners of the plight of his country's political prisoners and the lack of civil rights which Black South Africans face. He then said, "That is the kind of system that those who invest in South Africa are buttressing, whether they like it or not."

Tutu's remarks at the prayer service capped off a day in Boston, which also saw him receive a key to the city from Mayor Raymond L. Flynn attend a luncheon with students and faculty at the Faculty Club, and give a brief press conference in Robinson Hall. He was brought to Cambridge by the Harvard Foundation, and organization designed to foster interracial harmony on campus.

Throughout the day, the 53 year old Anglican bishop sounded a broad message about the inalienability of civil rights for his people. But Tutu's specific remarks about foreign investment were of special interest on a campus where debate has raged for more than a decade over Harvard's investments in companies doing business in South Africa.

Criticism

At his midday press conference before the service, Tutu said that by South African law he is forbidden from advocating foreign "disinvestment" from his country, but can only criticize investment.

"I can't say 'Hey, I support disinvestment' because that would be an indictable offense back in South Africa," Tutu said. "But I will certainly say that I expect those who want to support us to exert all the pressure they can on South African government political, diplomatic, and above all economic pressure."

Fielding a question about the suffering among Black South Africans that might be caused by disinvestment. Tutu said, "It apartheid is going to be changed by even additional suffering it is far better to take on that rather than let us have [apartheid] go on and on

President Bok has long argued against Harvard divestiture from South Africa on the grounds that it would be ineffective and an inappropriate expression of political sentiment by the University According to the most recently available figures. Harvard owns more than $400 million in companies operating in South Africa (see accompanying story)

While Bok's view did come under indirect attack, he also won praise from Tutu for his efforts to bring Black South African students to study at Harvard. In addition, the bishop praised Harvard for awarding degree in 1979, a move which he said had enormous symbolic importance in his native country.

Bok and Tutu attempted to meet both in the morning and in the afternoon, but their schedules and the brevity of Tutu's four-hour stay made a meeting impossible, officials said.

Tutu, who has been appointed the Archbishop of Johannesberg, is spending the year as a visiting professor at the General Theological Seminary in New York City.

As the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, he has been the most prominent spokesman against apartheid on the world stage, continually lashing out against the policies of the white minority government. He won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this fall for his activities against apartheid.

Service

Tutu's brief speech at Memorial Church was part of an hour-long service, which included prayer, singing by Harvard's Kuumba Singers, and remarks by S. Allen Counter, the director of the Foundation, and Peter S. Gomes, the minister of Memorial Church.

Tutu told the audience that the actions of Americans to pressure the South African government "have not gone without notice" among Blacks in the country. "At least in this respect I do speak on behalf of millions who would wish to come here to express their thanks to you for your concern," he said.

He also related several anecdotes about the support he has received from Americans, including that of an Anchorite run living in a forest in California who gets up every morning at two and begins her day by praying for the Bishop and his people.

With such support for the anti-apartheid cause, Tutu asked, "What chance does the South African Government stand?"

At the end of the speech the bishop received a two-minute standing ovation.

Tutu used his press conference to make a variety of criticisms of the South African government and points about the political situation.

He pointed out, for instance, shortcomings in the so-called Sullivan Principles, a set of equal opportunity and fair-labor guidelines for American businesses in South Africa.

"It seeks to make apartheid slightly more comfortable. We don't want apartheid to be more comfortable. We want it to be removed," he said.

When asked how he felt about an ongoing protest against apartheid by a group of prominent American Blacks, including several congressmen and mayors, he responded, "I would like to pay a very warm tribute to those who put their bodies where their mouths are."

Two protestors have been sitting down at the gates of the South African embassy in Washington each day for almost two weeks, and all have been arrested and spent a night in jall.

The bishop also criticized the new South African constitution, which for the first time allows limited participation in the government for Indians and persons of mixed race. He said the constitution "entrenches racism."

Before beginning his tour at Harvard, Tutu received the key to the city from Mayor Flynn at a Fairwell Hall ceremony