Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane urged the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches to support his call for the cancellation of odious debt and reparation for victims of apartheid.
Addressing the General Assembly in Neuchatel, Switzerland, he emphasised that South Africa was not looking for charity or vengeance, but justice.
"We (also) seek a new global approach which I believe you are well placed to support, encourage and influence. The present economic systems and structures entrap billions of people in a cycle of impoverishment – with all its consequences of disease, human deprivation and despair.
"As the relatively small South African business sector basks in the joy of a national budget geared to corporate tax relief, we desperately need to empower NGOs, community organisations and church groups to develop our rural infrastructure."
The archbishop said one of the ways the Swiss churches could help was by challenging world players, especially banks and corporations worldwide that had - despite a United Nations declaration that apartheid was a sin against humanity - underpinned the system.
In the interest of restorative justice, at least 78 billion US dollars were due to Southern Africa in reparation. “This is the estimated total economic cost to the region due to destabilisation and destruction under apartheid.
"Western Governments and corporations must acknowledge their culpability in their development and defence of what came to be called apartheid. Yet many are refusing to send high-powered delegations to the World Conference on Racism if the question of reparation is placed on the agenda."
These world players needed to be encouraged to find creative ways of cancelling that debt.
"One suggestion that comes to mind is that they should insist that the budgeted repayments are spent on reconstruction and development. The domino effect on our economy would not only be huge and but also to their long-term advantage."
A little leniency in their criteria for credit-worthiness would go along way towards keeping the loan sharks at bay.
Justifying his appeal, the archbishop provided the following backdrop:
Between 1985 and 1989 some of the world’s major banks were presented with three unique opportunities to shorten the life of the apartheid regime.
Firstly, a severe foreign exchange crisis threatened to bring the apartheid regime to its knees. Secondly, sanctions were starting to bite and, thirdly, the capital boycott by some foreign bankers was proving more devastating and fast acting than anything Western governments were planning.
Nonetheless, 14 major banks, from Germany, Switzerland, the UK, USA and France and representing some 30 large banks and 230 small creditor banks, negotiated three separate accords with the South African government. Thus enabling it to continue its massive abuse of human rights.
It is worth noting that South Africa had such pariah status that none of the banks were prepared to deal directly with its principals. The problem was resolved by the parties agreeing that Fritz Leutwiler, the former President of the Swiss National Bank would act as mediator.
Archbishop Trevor Huddlestone, as president of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain, personally appealed to the banks not to accommodate South Africa. He pointed out that apartheid was incompatible with peace and stability but was ignored.
My predecessor Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a wonderful Afrikaner called Dr Beyers Naude, who risked a great deal to go against his own people, joined forces. They asked the bankers to make a rescheduling of South Africa’s debt conditional on the resignation of the apartheid regime and its replacement by an interim government responsive to the needs of all South Africa’s people. Sadly, they were also ignored.
The bank chairmen all agreed on the evils of apartheid but placed money ahead of morality and negotiated such lenient and sympathetic deals that even the South African government expressed "pleasant surprise."
Ongoing attempts by Swiss and South African churches to pressurise the Swiss banks to stop bank-rolling the apartheid regime, were suspended in November 1989, when it became apparent that the banks were not only failing to be transparent but continuing to negotiate special deals with the South African regime.
"I presume that against this background, the banks are not about to claim to have been ignorant of the diabolic effect their actions had on millions of disenfranchised and oppressed people. People, who now look to them for restorative justice."