Company Exempted From S. Africa Law

Over the objections of the three black council members, the Los Angeles City Council Wednesday voted to contract with a company that is not in compliance with the city’s anti-apartheid ordinance.

Auto-Trol Technology Corp., a computer technology firm, sold a distribution business in South Africa in May. However, the ordinance bars the city from doing business with any companies that have had South Africa ties within the last year.

The council voted 8 to 3 to make an exception for Auto-Trol and hired the firm to deliver a $2.7-million computerized design system for the Bureau of Engineering.

The dissenting votes were cast by Councilmen Robert Farrell, Nate Holden and Gilbert Lindsay.

“We would just really prefer that the city find other ways to do the business,” Farrell said.

Holden disputed the bureau’s contention that the city had to contract for the work.

He described it as an “off-the-shelf type system . . . (using) standardized equipment.”

Of the 10 companies that responded to the city’s request for proposals on the contract, nine were doing business in South Africa or with firms from that nation.

City engineers said the computerized design system is essential to relieving the bureau’s backlog of projects.