S. Africa Called Chronic Debtor

The U.S. Information Service today released an internal U.S. government report that says South Africa is becoming an import-starved chronic debtor with a repressive government.

The 50-page document was prepared in July by the Foreign Commercial Service, a branch of the Commerce Department, in the U.S. consulate office in Johannesburg. It was written before Congress imposed new economic sanctions on South Africa and sets out policy objectives for U.S.-South African relations under sanctions.

The report says South Africa is “closer to becoming just another African state: A chronic debtor, import starved, ridden with ethnic diversities, a repressive regime unable to manage its own domestic constituency in any positive way, whose only leverage is its ability to manipulate foreign governments and attract international attention. . . .