§ Sir Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has received any official information pertaining to the reported threats by Mr. Johnstone Makatini of the African National Congress that British companies with investments in South Africa may be subjected to attacks and full scale violence if Her Majesty's Government do not apply further sanctions against South Africa; if in the light of previous contacts between Ministers and the African National Congress he has conveyed any representations or comments about this to Mr. Oliver Tambo; and what is his policy towards the threats to British subjects contained in Mr. Makatini's remarks.
§ Mrs. ChalkerAs my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister told the hon. Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) on 22 October, at column 929, Mr. Makatini said in Vancouver that
violence could include attacks on British and other Western companies refusing to disengage and hasten the collapse of apartheid".—[Official Report 22 October 1987; Vol. 120, c. 929.]We take strong exception to such language. A central theme of our contacts with the ANC has been to condemn violence from whatever quarter it may come. We continue to take every opportunity to make our views widely known, and to call on the ANC and similar bodies to forswear violence.