Twenty Years into South Africa’s Democracy the Swiss Federal Government refuses to uplift the seal on the records of Swiss Private Sector Involvement with Apartheid South Africa and its Government.
Khulumani
05 Dec 2013
In the last two weeks of November 2013, the issue of the closure of the Federal Archives concerning documents relating to Swiss business deals with apartheid South Africa in 2005, midway through the Swiss Research Foundation’s project on Swiss – South African Relationships During Apartheid, became the focus of debate in the smaller chamber of Swiss Parliament (Ständerat).
The motion was filed by Paul Rechsteiner, Socialist Party, President of the Swiss Trade Union Congress and former President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Rechsteiner asked when the Federal Council intended to end the extraordinary partial closure of the Federal Archives concerning documents relating to Swiss business deals with apartheid South Africa. Rechsteiner asked if 20 years after democracy in South Africa, the Swiss government was ready to open the archive.
The background to this is a research project of the Swiss Research Foundation conducted under the leadership of Professor Georg Kreis into Swiss – South African relationships during apartheid. The project was conducted between 2000 and 2005 and unearthed a considerable body of evidence of the complicity of Swiss companies in aiding and abetting human rights violations committed by the South African apartheid government. The information raised questions in Switzerland about the corporate responsibility of Swiss private enterprise when there is collusion with illegitimate regimes that violate the human rights of their citizens.
The research had been officially decommissioned and the archive sealed for this research by the Swiss Federal government mid-way through the project because of the potentially embarrassing nature of the information that was being brought to light.This has been termed one of the most extraordinary actions by the Swiss government.
A meeting was held with the Swiss Ambassador to South Africa after the publication of the mid-project report of Professor Kreis’ team that led to the closure of the archive. The meeting involved former Truth Commissioner Ms Yasmin Sooka, former Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, Mr Jody Kollapen and Dr Marjorie Jobson from Khulumani Support Group. The ambassador was denied permission by his government to discuss the matter at all in this meeting.
The closure of the archive has been one of the most extraordinary actions by the Swiss government. The response to Rechsteiner’s question in the Standerat from the Federal Council was that “the closure would be maintained as long as the lawsuit (the South Africa Apartheid Litigation involving Khulumani and Ntsebeza plaintiffs) in the US was pending.
Rechsteiner strongly criticised the government’s position saying that it was an antidemocratic act of censorship and therefore had to be lifted.
The Swiss Minister of Justice refused to comply with the motion and justified the government’s decision that it was about protecting Swiss companies and their clients in order not to disadvantage them in comparison to companies of neighbouring countries.
The ensuing debate in the second chamber was widely covered in the Swiss media. It generated many articles, including the following:
“Closure of Archives ordered by the Banks”
“Apartheid documents remain in the Dark”
“Federal Council Protects Swiss Companies’ Racism”
“The State Keeps Its Secrets”
“Corpses in the Cellar of the Federal Archives?”
The media articles were very critical of the Federal Council’s position.
This is history related to colluders with the apartheid regime, that refuses to die and highlights the continuing challenges related to human rights violations committed by non-state actors, the focus of the Khulumani lawsuit, now filed as the South Africa Apartheid Litigation.
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- South Africa: The inhumanity of dividing identities
- Ask Boaventura #11 – Constitutions and Transformation
- Will Barack Obama get a frosty reception when he visits South Africa this weekend?
- Language policy in South Africa and the unfounded fears of a Zulu hegemony
