Texas lifts 6-year-old ban on companies investing in South Africa

Jet, August 14, 1995

Texas Gov. George W. Bush recently signed a measure that lifts a six-year-old order prohibiting the investment of state funds in firms with ties to South Africa.

As South African Ambassador to the U.S. Franklin Sonn looked on during ceremonies in Dallas, Bush said lifting the ban is warranted given the strides the country has made in the area of human rights. "Texans understand that South Africa has changed," Bush said.

Sonn said the dismantling of apartheid in his country was nothing short of a political miracle and stressed that there is still much work to be done. "Now we must work to achieve the economic miracle. The repealing of sanctions is one giant step in that direction."

The state legislature imposed the restriction in 1987 and 1989 as part of a national push to withdraw financial support from businesses linked to South Africa which practiced systemized racial and economic separation.