Swiss-South African Association

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Swiss-South African Association was a Switzerland- based organization that was founded in Zurich in May 1956 to promote relations with South Africa and to act as a chamber of commerce . A number of prominent business personalities were active in the association, such as Adolf Jann (General Director of UBS ), Ernst Schmidheiny (President of Holderbank ), Dieter Bührle (General Director and owner of Oerlikon-Bührle ) and Georg Sulzer (President of Sulzer Gebrüder AG ).

history

At the time it was founded, the association had 47 individual members and 81 societies as members. Over the years the organization has become increasingly dominated by individual memberships. Adolf Jann was the founding president of the association. In 1964 the presidency was passed on to Sulzer. In 1984 Anton Ernst Schrafl became President; Georg Meyer (Vice President of UBS) took over the presidency in 1988. In October 1988, Meyer was awarded the Order of Good Hope by the South African President Pieter Willem Botha .

Politically, the association defended the apartheid regime in South Africa. In the bulletins of the association the white supremacy in South Africa was defended with regard to their “right to exist”. Political equality between whites and blacks has been portrayed (as in the United States) as problematic, if not impossible. On the foundation of the first Bantustan state, Transkei , the association praised the Swiss government for recognizing the new state. In 1999 the association merged with the Swiss-South African Chamber of Commerce (which was founded in 1996 with its headquarters in Zug ).

literature

  • David Gygax : La Swiss-South African Association (1956-2000). Un organe du capital helvétique en Afrique du Sud. Aux sources du temps present. Université de Friborg, 2001.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Association pour l'étude de l'histoire du mouvement ouvrier. Dossier sport ouvrier . Lausanne 17 (case postale 104): Association pour l'étude de l'histoire du mouvement ouvrier, 2002. p. 134
  2. ^ A b c Georg Kreis : Switzerland and South Africa 1948–1994: Final Report of the NFP 42+ Commissioned by the Swiss Federal Council . Bern et al: Lang, 2007. pp. 139–140, 523
  3. ^ Georg Kreis: Switzerland and South Africa 1948–1994: Final Report of the NFP 42+ Commissioned by the Swiss Federal Council . Bern et al: Lang, 2007. p. 220
  4. ^ Georg Kreis: Switzerland and South Africa 1948–1994: Final Report of the NFP 42+ Commissioned by the Swiss Federal Council . Bern et al: Lang, 2007. p. 447