Investigations into the finances of anti-apartheid organisations were followed in May by threats of new measures to restrict foreign funds.
President Botha told a pre-election meeting in Port Elizabeth that the government might pass legislation affecting foreign funding of organisations. After the May whites-only election he told the newly-elected white House of Assembly that the government would 'no longer permit the constitutional order in South Africa to be subverted' by activities 'encouraged and/or financed outside the country or by their agents here'.
After the State of Emergency was declared in June last year, the government launched a series of investigations into the activities and funding of anti-apartheid organisations. In October it declared the United Democratic Front (UDF) an 'affected' organisation, making it illegal for it to receive any funds from abroad. Since the beginning of this year it has investigated the funding of many other organisations. In February it set up a Commission of Inquiry into the financing of an advertisement in the national press calling for the unbanning of the ANC. According to an official statement on 16 March, the Reserve Bank of South Africa has been supplying information which makes it possible to track down the destination of all funds from abroad.
The government has extensive powers to control the funding of organisations under the Fund-raising and the Affected Organisations Acts. New legislation would extend these powers.
A call for new controls was voiced in a report on employment policy by the Committee for Economic Affairs of the President's Council, which recommended an investigation of the funding of black trade unions. The chairperson, Dr Jacobsz, complained that there was no control over the source of funds for unregistered unions and federations – whose 'basic motivation', he said, comprised 'very definite political objectives'.
The United Democratic Front was declared an affected organisation on 9 October last year under the Affected Organisations Act of 1974. This act gives the government extensive powers to investigate an organisations's activities and monitor its financial transactions. Any organisation can be declared affected on the ground that it engages in politics with assistance from or under the influence of an organisation or person abroad. Two organisations had previously been declared affected: in 1974, the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), and in 1975 the Christian Institute of South Africa, which was banned in 1977.
As soon as it had been declared affected, the UDF applied to the courts to have the decree declared null and void. On 8 May the Durban Supreme Court did so but on the purely procedural grounds that the wrong Minister had initiated the action against the UDF – Law and Order instead of Justice. It granted the government leave to appeal.
Since the beginning of the year the government has investigated the finances of a number of organisations under the Fund-raising Act. Police confirmed at the start of February that its Commercial Branch was investigating possible charges under the Act.
The Fund-raising Act of 1978, as amended in 1981, prohibits any organisation collecting contributions including any from abroad, if the Minister of National Health and Population Development deems this to be 'in the public interest'. In 1980 the former trade union federation FOSATU was prohibited under the Fund-raising Act from collecting contributions.
Investigations under the Fund-raising Act led to the appearance of a Barclays Bank manager in the Bellville Magistrates' Court. He had been subpoenaed to release information about a bank account held by the Foundation for Peace and Justice which was set up by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church under the leadership of Allan Boesak. The police are believed to have issued a further six subpoenas to various branch managers of Barclays Bank.
Other organisations were investigated by the Director of Fund-raising. Many provide social, educational and health services to the community which the government fails to provide. According to Dr Beyers Naude, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, the government had investigated the funds of 80 secular organisations.
The Kagiso Trust, one of the main channels of foreign funds, has been under government investigation since its inception, according to its director. The trust which was set up in 1986 has been funded by the European Economic Community. Of the R8.5m committed in 1986 a third was spent on education, a third on health projects, and the rest on detainee support work, human rights projects and for training media workers. Documents and records were seized on official visits to the Trust's Johannesburg and Durban offices in December and January. 'They are concerned not so much with the source of our funding, but with who the recipients are. ... We have broken no existing law but you must not forget we must not just look at the matter in legislation terms. What the government is doing is a political prosecution', stated the director.
Other organizations which have been investigated include: the Northern Transvaal Advice Office; the South African Council for Higher Education (Sached); the Urban Planning Commission; the 'Grassroots' and 'Saamstaan' community newspapers; the Wilgespruit Fellowship Centre; the National Education Crisis Committee (NECC); the Institute for Democratic Alternatives for South Africa; the End Conscription Campaign; the Five Freedoms Forum and the Black Lawyers' Association.
