US court allows apartheid cases

A US court has ruled that victims of South Africa's apartheid-era government can sue General Motors, IBM and other corporations accused of complicity in human rights abuses. A federal judge in New York ruled on Wednesday that joint actions against the corporations under a US law allowing rights claims from abroad should be addressed in a US court. Car-makers Ford and Daimler and defence firm Rheinmetall are the other companies set to face legal action from South African plaintiffs. However, Judge Shira Scheindlin also dismissed claims against banks UBS and Barclays but allowed the plaintiffs the opportunity to refile their case against electronics firm Fujitsu. Michael Hausfeld, one of the lawyers representing the South African plaintiffs, said the verdict was "a major advancement in international law". Torture claims The plaintiffs, at least thousands of people seeking unspecified damages, allege the carmakers supplied military vehicles that let securities forces suppress black South Africans. IBM is accused of providing equipment used to track dissidents. The lawsuits argue that the car-makers knew their vehicles were being used by South African forces to violently suppress protests. They also claim that IBM and Fujitsu knew their computers were being used by South Africa's white minority government to help strip black citizens of their rights. Apartheid ended in 1994 when South Africa held its first free elections, bringing Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress to power. The judge disagreed with arguments made by the companies that it was not their responsibility to tell clients how to use their products. "That level of willful blindness in the face of crimes in violation of the law of nations cannot defeat an otherwise clear showing of knowledge that the assistance IBM provided would directly and substantially support apartheid," she said. Scheindlen allowed lawsuits against IBM for "aiding and abetting arbitrary denationalisation and apartheid". She said that the plaintiffs could pursue claims against Daimler, GM and Ford "for aiding and abetting torture... extrajudicial killing, and apartheid". And against Rheinmetall, the German parent company of Swiss-based arms manufacturer Oerlikon, for "aiding and abetting extrajudicial killing and apartheid". Khulumani, a South African organisation that helps apartheid victims and is one of the plaintiffs in the court action, hailed the court decision. "We are convinced that this lawsuit, should it be successful, will go a long way in satisfying members' material needs; and that will go a long way in contributing to social reconciliation," said Marjorie Jobson, a Khulumani director. The US government had submitted a statement saying the lawsuits could become "an irritant in US-South African relations" because they might interfere with South Africa's sovereign right to decide apartheid issues and might discourage investment in South Africa. South African officials had said the efforts to compensate victims should be pursued within South Africa's political and legal processes. Defence lawyers have said corporations shouldn't be penalised because they were encouraged to do business in South Africa during apartheid. Hausfeld, the plaintiffs attorney, praised the ruling, saying it will allow his clients to begin obtaining evidence from the companies that will show what they did in relation to South Africa during apartheid. "It's great," he said. "There's a treasure of documentation that would be disclosed for the first time ever." Hausfeld said that besides South Africa and the United States, countries including Germany, Switzerland and the UK had opposed letting the litigation proceed. He said it was significant that the judge concluded that opposition by governments was not enough to halt lawsuits brought for human rights reasons. Ruling otherwise, he said, "would have given governments a veto power over the bringing of legal claims."