Presbyterians Divest Mobil Stock as S. Africa Protest

A delegation of the Presbyterian Church, in a protest against the South African government, hand-delivered letters Tuesday to Mobil Oil and Newmont Mining announcing the completion of their divestment of $2 billion in stocks.

The sale of stocks--amounting to 500,000 shares--had been completed by the divestment committee, said the Rev. Bill Somplatsky-Jarman, who heads the Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee.

The committee had been authorized to sell the church’s holdings in four companies involved in South Africa by the more than 600 delegates who attended its 1985 General Assembly, Somplatsky-Jarman said.

Speaking in front of the Mobil Oil offices in Manhattan, the minister said the assembly’s delegates from across the United States voted to take the action because the companies were “unresponsive” to the church’s stand against apartheid.