Sanctions May Cause Chaos, Apartheid Foe Says

Helen Suzman, dean of the opposition party in the white South African Parliament and an outspoken foe of the apartheid system, warned Friday that international sanctions against the country could cause chaos because a shrinking economy will be unable to provide jobs for the 500,000 young blacks who join the labor force annually.

“My argument against sanctions is that we’ve got to have an expanding economy” to stem violence, she told reporters at a breakfast meeting.

Suzman, on a private visit to the United States, said she agrees with President Reagan’s opposition to economic sanctions against South Africa but added: “I don’t agree with him that blacks will suffer more than whites. Everybody will suffer. And, if people think things can’t get worse, they have no idea.”

Regrets GM, IBM Exits

The veteran liberal leader cast doubt on the possibility that South African managers can take over the businesses being left by General Motors, IBM and other U.S. corporations withdrawing from South Africa. She said she regrets that the American firms will not be continuing their efforts to desegregate the work force and provide education and training for employees.

In comments similar to those of Assistant Secretary of State Chester A. Crocker, author of the Administration’s “constructive engagement” policy toward South Africa that has been rejected by Congress, she said: “Cutting contact doesn’t help. Once you’ve gone, you’ve gone.”

But, aside from the adverse economic effect, she acknowledged that the sanctions imposed by Congress on South Africa could have a beneficial psychological impact. “Nobody likes to be the pariah of the world,” she said.

Foresees Siege Mentality

Nevertheless, she said, under no circumstances will the present government be forced by such action to grant full political rights to blacks. Instead, she foresees the development of a siege mentality that would bring moderate whites into the government camp, thus increasing the danger of a bloody confrontation rather than a peaceful evolution. Rising black unemployment could make the situation particularly volatile, she said.

Her own party, the Progressive Federal Party, backs a “color-blind” democracy with universal suffrage based on a state system “like the United States.” She said she believes that millions of her country’s blacks would support peaceful political evolution.

But she acknowledged that many young blacks have moved far to the left and back the banned African National Congress and violent rebellion. She estimated that between 9 and 19 of the 30 top leaders of the ANC are Communists.

In an interview after the breakfast meeting, Suzman spoke of her concern that young, professional whites are leaving South Africa. She said 1,700 professionals, “our mental capital,” left the country in the first half of the year.