A comprehensive study of western investment in, and trade with, South Africa published last year in Britain ("The South African Connection" by Ruth First, Jonathan Steele and Christabel Gurney) proved conclusively that these economic ties were crucial in maintaining apartheid. Two thirds of all foreign investment in South Africa is British. British companies paying low wages to their African employees are, of course, following closely the practice of much of South African industry. But in some cases British companies were found to be paying wages that seem low even by South African standards.

"Not a human standard of living".

Only three major British companies are paying all their African employees above the poverty datum line. The P.D.L. is minimum income level, determined by nutritionists and social researchers, needed by an average African family simply to exist. It does not allow for medicines, education, savings, holidays, furniture, blankets or any 'luxuries' at all, even the odd bus ride. Although estimates of the P.D.L. vary, it is, on average, calculated to be about $16 doubled from the figure in pounds given by "The Guardian") a week, for an African family.

According to Professor F.L. Batson of the University of Cape Town, the P.D.L. "is not a human standard of living. It admirably fulfils its purpose of stating the lowest minimum upon which subsistence and health can theoretically be achieved". The P.D.L. is in fact so low a standard that most social researchers use the concept of the 'Minimum Effective Level' to express the minimum income needed for an African family to lead a decent life. Not a single British company in South Africa employing substantial numbers of Africans is paying all its workers at or above this "humane" level, corresponding roughly to $26-$30 a week". Average African wages at Rio Tinto Zinc's Palabora mine are almost up to this minimum. But the company's African Affairs Adviser, Mr W. Felgate, is under no illusion that it is a living wage: "What can a man do with 96 rand (about $110 a month)?Let's face it, it's a bum wage. But at least at 96 rand, diseases like kwashiorkor and pellagra disappear".

The companies whose South African subsidaries are paying substantial numbers of workers well below the poverty datum line include: Slater Walker (subsidiary Natal Tanning Extract), Associated Portland Cement (Whites Portland Cement) Tate and Lyle (llloyo Sugar Estates), Metal Box, Courtaulds (S.A. Fabrics), General Electric, Reed, Rowntree Mackintosh, Chloride Electrical, Associated British Foods and British Leyland. Several of these companies have connections with New Zealand businesses. Allied Bakeries (N.Z.) Ltd is a subsidiary of an Australian subsidiary of Associated British Foods. Reed has investments in the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company. British Leyland has connections with the New Zealand Motor Corporation, and General Electric owns Associated Electrical Industries and the English Electric Company.

"You have to remember they're unproductive".

Whites Portland Cement pays hundreds of its African workers at its Lichtenberg Plant wages of just over $6 a week. Mr Brian Harvey, a process control engineer who emigrated from England over a year ago to work for Whites, said he was shocked when he saw how the company treated its African employees. "They treat the Bantu workers like machines — in fact, machines are better looked after" he said. "They're getting their profits and they just couldn't give a damn how the Bantu live".

llloyo Sugar Estates pays its 3,000 contract workers from the Transkei approximately 58c a day which, together with overtime and bonuses, brings average wages to about $1.10 a day. Air Commodore E. J. Morris, llloyo's personnel manager, said: "This is not magnificent, but you have to remember these Bantu are mostly illiterate. And they are unproductive at first; we have to build them up. At home they just lie around and have a good time". Both Whites and llloyo feed and house their workers free. Many companies claim that these fringe benefits make up for the low wages. The true value of the "extras" can be gauged from the fact that Whites pay an extra $1.50 a week to workers who live with their wives outside the Lichtenberg compound.

Africans fed what dogs can't eat.

Natal Tanning Extracts, Slater Walker's wholly owned subsidiary, pays many of its workers less than $5.00 a week. Single and married employees are fed and housed free, but "The Guardian" correspondent said conditions on the two NTE farms he visited were bad. "I saw several children suffering from open sores, distended stomachs, and weakened limbs. A Zulu interpreter and a University of Natal lecturer accompanying me said the children had kwashiorkor, a disease cause by protein and vitamin deficiency".

In one compound on Newlands Estate near Pietermaritzburg, seven women had to live, sleep, and eat in a bare room measuring 10ft by 15ft. The only washing facility was a cold tap 30 yards away. Many of the timber workers were in rags and said they could not afford to buy clothes. No sick leave or holidays are given to the lowest paid — the vast majority of the work force. If unable to work because of bad weather, which is frequent, they get paid nothing. The farm manager of Newlands Estate acknowledge that malnutrition was rife, "What can I do about it"? he asked. He dismissed the malnutrition sores as "fleabites" and said that he himself received plenty of milk. Any that was left over after he had fed the dogs was "given to the Bantu".

The managing director of Natal Tanning Extract, Mr G. de Carle, denied that wages and conditions were appalling on the company's farms but conceded that they could be improved. "I go along with you that we can afford to pay more", he told Adam Raphael of "The Guardian". "We are going to raise wages soon". Mr de Carle claimed that rations given to workers were more than adequate and that no cases of malnutrition had been brought to his attention. "I can assure you that our ration scale is superior to the firms round us. We believe that these totally illiterate labourers on our farms live humane and reasonably happy lives".

Africans have "no interest" in work.

The wages of unskilled migrant workers employed by these three British companies have traditionally been very depressed. But many British companies employing urban Africans are also paying wages far below the poverty datum line. South African Fabrics. Courtauld's wholly-owned subsidiary, pays its unskilled workers in Durban just over $12 a week. Average African wages with bonus attendance allowance are just over $16. The P.D.L. in Durban is nearly $22. The managing director of S.A. Fabrics said "The African is a trainable chap, but he has no interests whatsoever in what he is doing. Consequently, productivity is very low. We tried paying bonuses similar to England but it didn't work. If these chaps earn too much, they just take a holiday".

Metal Box employs more than 5,500 Africans, at least 30 per cent of whom are paid below the poverty datum line. Mr C.F. Heilmann, the managing director, said his company was paying 40 per cent above the Government's wage determination for the industry. He also claimed that no employee, counting overtime earnings was being paid below the poverty line. The South African Tin Makers' Union disputes this. It points to a report published by the International Metal Workers' Federation last year which said that a graded worker with more than 30 years service at Metal Box was earning less than $10 a week.

None of the companies surveyed was prepared to discuss its profits in South Africa except in the most general terms. The average rate of return on British capital in the past decade was however, 12 per cent, the highest in the world after Malaysia. Slater Walker S.A., which is quoted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, had profits of more than $3 million in the first six months of last year an increase of 71 per cent. Natal Tanning's contribution was not disclosed but industry observers estimate its annual profits at $500,000. Whites Portland Cement made a pre-tax profit last year of more than $1,000,000

More Wages?!! To squander on food and clothing!?!