House Subcommittees Approve Economic Curbs on S. Africa

After Republican members walked out, two House Foreign Affairs subcommittees Tuesday unanimously approved a bill to impose economic sanctions against South Africa until the white minority government there dismantles its apartheid system of racial segregation.

The bill, scheduled to go before the full House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, would prohibit American bank loans to South African government agencies and bar American private investment in South Africa or Namibia. The bill also calls for a ban on the export or servicing of computers by U.S. companies and the sale of gold krugerrand coins in the United States.

The walkout by the only three Republicans present came after the subcommittees on international economic policy and on Africa, meeting jointly, rejected a substitute by Rep. Mark D. Siljander (R-Mich.) that would have authorized a three-year study by a special commission.

U.S. Policy Denounced

Speaking against the Siljander substitute, Rep. Howard Wolpe (D-Mich.), chairman of the Africa subcommittee, denounced the Reagan Administration’s policy of “constructive engagement,” under which the United States has sought to maintain and even increase economic ties with South Africa as a basis for influencing social change.

“The message sent to the South African government is that no matter what they do, there is no cost,” Wolpe said. “This (substitute) bill would simply delay action; sanctions are the only hope we have of influencing that government.”

Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.), calling Siljander’s substitute “a classic example of too little, too late,” said: “The time for sanctions is now.”

The prohibition on bank loans would allow an exception for financing educational, housing or health facilities that are open to all persons without discrimination. An exception to the ban on investment would be allowed in cases in which earnings from an established business in South Africa would be reinvested in that business.

Allows School Computers

The sole exception to the bar on computer exports would be gifts of computers to primary and secondary schools. California Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Studio City) said the bill singles out computers for an export ban because they are important instruments for enforcing apartheid.

The bill spells out a list of measures, ranging from eliminating racial qualifications for residential areas to freeing all political prisoners, that the South African government would have to take before the sanctions could be lifted by presidential action. Corporations violating the bill would be subject to fines up to $1 million.