Apartheid Foes Appeal to Banks

Bishop Desmond Tutu and two other leading clergymen appealed to American and European bankers today to reject the rescheduling of South Africa’s $23.7-billion foreign debt at a meeting this week in London.

In a letter to Swiss mediator Fritz Leutwiler, the clerics urged the bankers to make a rescheduling of the debt conditional on the resignation of President Pieter W. Botha’s white minority government. They also proposed that the banks attempt to attach aircraft, ships and other South African assets to apply against South Africa’s indebtedness.