Ferraro Says Pepsico Will Sell Plant in South Africa

Geraldine Ferraro said Tuesday that Pepsico, for whom she made a television soft-drink commercial, will sell its third and final bottling plant in South Africa by September.

Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic nominee for vice president, said she was assured before she agreed to do a Pepsi-Cola commercial with her daughters that the corporation’s ties with South Africa would be severed by this fall.

“I would not have done it had Pepsi had involvement in South Africa,” Ferraro told a press conference after making a speech here.

“They are divesting and will be out by September. That’s what we were told before we did the commercial and we would not have done it otherwise,” she added.

James M. Griffith, director of public affairs for Pepsico in New York, confirmed Ferraro’s report.

He said the move to sell was part of the corporation’s refranchising plan for overseas plants and was “apart from the apartheid issue.”