Rev. Sullivan Asks Firms to Quit S. Africa : Author of ‘Principles’ Urges Embargo, End to Diplomatic Ties

The Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, author of a widely used code of conduct for American businesses in South Africa, called on all U.S. corporations today to pull out of that nation within nine months and for President Reagan to break diplomatic relations.

Sullivan, a Philadelphia minister, said in an impassioned speech that he wants all American businesses to withdraw and the U.S. government to enact an economic embargo of the segregationist nation while breaking diplomatic relations “until statutory apartheid is ended and blacks have a clear commitment for equal political rights.”

Sullivan, author of the 10-year-old Sullivan Principles, which called for fair employment practices, said his principles have been a catalyst for social change but have not met the goal of eliminating the apartheid system.

A council representing most signatories to his principles said it “will now have to carry out the Sullivan Principles without Sullivan,” but made clear that individual companies will decide on their own whether to heed his call.

Sullivan said he agonized over his decision because he was concerned with what would happen to black workers after American firms pulled out.

Under Sullivan’s plea, American firms will have until March, 1988, to withdraw from South Africa. Sullivan said he hopes that companies will sell their interests to concerns promoting equal opportunity for blacks, and he asked the companies to reconsider relocating in neighboring nations.

A council comprising 104 chief executive officers of companies that signed the Sullivan Principles said in a statement that they regretted the call for complete disinvestment.

The statement said member companies will continue to comply with the original principles as long as they do business in South Africa. The council’s co-chairmen are Reuben Mark of Colgate Palmolive Co., Allan Murray of Mobil Corp. and W. Michael Blumenthal of Unisys.

“We owe a great debt to Leon Sullivan,” Murray said. “But we will now have to carry out the Sullivan Principles without Sullivan.”

The statement made clear that companies could, on their own, end their South African investments.

“While continuing to oppose the call for wholesale disinvestment as an ineffective means to force the end of apartheid, the council takes no position on the merits of individual company decisions,” the statement said.

More than 100 American companies have sold their South African subsidiaries over the last 18 months.

Besides calling for disinvestment, Sullivan said he has sent a telegram to President Reagan urging an end to all diplomatic relations with South Africa. And he said an economic embargo of that nation would be effective only if countries besides the United States also kept their distance from South Africa.