S. African Black Business Group Visiting

A group promoting business development for South African blacks arrived in Los Angeles over the weekend on the second leg of a six-city tour of the United States.

Their objective is to help blacks “take a meaningful part in the economy of post-apartheid South Africa,” said Michael Mohohlo, a partner in a black South African management firm and U.S. coordinator of the visit.

The group, the Black Southern African Business Observation Mission, includes two prominent Southern African anti-apartheid leaders from Soweto, Nthato Motlana and prize-winning writer Ellen Kuzwayo.

Moholo said the group believes that the political struggle against apartheid is nearly over, and that blacks in South Africa now have to develop their financial might.

“The political freedom is insufficient without economic power,” he said.

Mohohlo said the group is not in the United States “to do deals” with investors, because that would violate the economic sanctions still being used to pressure the South African government to end apartheid. He said the contingent mainly is seeking to “create alliances” with business and government leaders in anticipation of the end of South Africa’s policy of racial segregation.

He said the group is meeting with black professional organizations in the United States--representing engineers, bankers, data processing executives and others--to learn about such things as dealing with banks, raising capital and carrying out real estate transactions. He said his organization hopes to establish exchange programs with some of the American groups to share experiences.

Mohohlo said there are hundreds of thousands of black-owned businesses in South Africa. Many operated underground for years, surfacing only recently as some of the nation’s restrictive laws were repealed, he said. Still restricted from owning land in South Africa, blacks operate businesses in such segments as retail, professional services, agriculture, manufacturing and transportation. The largest single business owned by blacks is a furniture manufacturer.