ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY May 22, 1976

South Africa is now looking for a from its friends how to effectively seal can join the Rhodesian military and
wide range and variety of military the borders, now under the imminent police. He even provides tips on the
hardware. For instance, Pretoria does threat of incursions from African daily life in Rhodesia. "Take your
not produce jet fighters, but it manu- guerillas. Apparently Pretoria has ad- own whisky and car or motor-bike...
factures Atlas transport aircraft. The miration for Israeli methods of sealing All the imported goods are expensive."
country seems keen to exchange these borders as it has done in the West Brown finds his recruits among readers
aircraft for Israeli ICFR jet fighters Bank against Palestinian guerillas. of newspapers published by paramili-
and also tanks. Und.er the long stand- Technical adviser-s from Tel Aviv are tary shooting societies in USA like,
ing collaboration in nuclear research, keenly awaited by the Vorster regime. for example, the Shooting Times.
South Africa offers Tel Aviv enriched Both are obviously drawing up Another group of agents operates in
uranium in return for counter insur- schemes to ward off the hour of their
Anaheim, California, under the code-
gency equipment. Eventually South impending doom. How long they can name "El Lamas Enterprises". Des-
Africa will try to seek Israeli know- do it remains to be seen. Meanwhilecribing the activities of this firm, the
how in the Tnanufacture of nuclear the national liberation movements in
San Diego Tribune recently wrote:
bombs. Sufficient documentary evidence 1)oth the regions countinue to make"The firm enrols mercenaries as secu-
is also there to show that Israel is a decisive gains. rity experts for international concerns
transit station for Soutn African Rhodesia has become, in this and governments, in order to help
nuclear scientists going to %VestGer- bilateral deal, a non-issue. Vorster has
them in case of warring disputes."
many for training. Some stolen docu- his own skin to save without being Angola, Israel, Rhodesia, Latin Ameri-
ments, which ended up in the hands the knight errant to the hopelessly lost
ca were mentioned as "operation
of the African National Congress of cause of Ian Smith. In any case, inareas". One of the officers of this
South Africa, clearly show that West the Pretoria-Tel Aviv axis, Rhcdesia's
organisation is James A Scott. He
Germany has been secretly co-operat- fragile military strength is incon-was identified recently by another re-
ing with Pretoria in developing nuclear sequential. By this move, Israel in-
cruitment expert and anti-guerilla
rower for both peaceful purposes and cidentally has lost all chances of being
specialist, Major Carlos Wilson, as "a
fcr making bombs. friends with black Africa, but for CIA-man, who represents only one
Further, South Africa is learning South Africa, Israel is the only cption.
among several CIA hireling organisa-
tions which enlist veterans for deploy-
SOUTHERN AFRICA - II ment as mercenaries" According to
the San Diego Tribune, at least 10,000
U S veterans have till now been en-
Mercenaries for Rhodesia rolled as mercenaries.
Reporting about "CIA-mercenaries
Ramesh Jaura for Rhodesia", Extra-Dienst, a bi-week-
ly from West Berlin recently wrote:
"VETERAN military personnel wanted: cials in Washington said: "In case "The fact that the mercenaries are
Threatened African nation paying there really have been American mer- inainly deployed by racist regimes in
1,600 dollars monthly. Tax Free. cenaries in Angola, they have in no South Africa and Rhodesia has caused
Travel Paid. Complete information 5 case anything to do with the US gov- protests among black US soldiers."
dollars (includes Mideast Military ernment ... The US are in no manner The paper reported that it is in pos-
Employment Inform.ation). Mr Renzi, involved, whether recruitment or train- session of a letter which was a reply
2111 Francisco, Long Beach, California ing of mercenaries." But these offi- to a fake application in response to an
90806." cial disclaimers have been exposed as advertisement placed by a recruitment
Advertisements like this have been lies in an article in the Washington enterprise in an American newspaper.
appearing in almost every issue of Star. One of the biggest trairning One Major Charles Black - probably
official American GI newspapers, meant camps for merCenaries situated in a pseudonym - wrote on behalf of
for the American forces in Europe. Langley, Virginia, is directly owned the "Military Advisory Command In-
Renzi, who solicits mercenaries for by the CIA. Though it is supervised ternational-Ladco International (MALI-
Rhodesia and Oman regularly in the by the so-called Veterans Opportunity CI)" in Abington, Post Box 41, Pen-
C1I newspaper Overseas Weekly, works Project, "the CIA owns this terrain nsylvania 19001: "MALICI is a group
hand in hand with Lamprecht, a ma- where mercenaries are trained". One of specialists in all fields related to
jor in the Rhodesian army, who too of the camp commanders is reported the calling of a mercenary: pilots, me-
has tried to enlist mercenaries by to have stated: "The recruitment dical doctors, drivers, extras, clandes-
placing advertisements in West Ger- started a few months back; some tine activities, etc. WVeascertain the
man newspapers. His contactman in groups have started with the training needs and requirements for operations
West Germany, Edgar Thelen, who a month ago... Secrecy is absolutely and for that purpose contact the ne-
had interviewed prospective mercena- important for these recruitments, cessary people. Required for that are
ries, was arrested last year, but was which till now have been made in valid US driving licence, an interna-
soon set free after paying, as report- Washington, Baltimore, Los Angeles tional driving licence, a valid passport
ed, a fine of 4,000 marks. After his and Philadelphia". Special importan- and a vaccination certificate."
acquittal, he, followed Lamprecht to ce is attached to Vietnam war veterans. The need for absolute secrecy arises
Rhodesia. One of the recruiting officers is Ro- out of the fact that "mercenary work"
But this is no new development; bert K Brown, who heads the so-called could even violate the US Neutrality
even in the Angolan war, US mercena- "Phoenix Associates" in Denver, Co- Act, particularly in case of actioRs
ries were involved; and according to lorado. Earlier he belonged to the "which are aimed against governments
a UPI report (March 4) four of them notorious Green Berets. Now his job with whom the frieTdly US maintains
died. Commenting on the report, offi- is to provide information on how one relations". On that pretext, the appli-

777
May 22, 1976 ECONOMIC ANJY POLiTCAL WEEKLY

cant is threatened with imprisonment mention the sender either on the re- partly also because of the dual pricing
upto 10 years, if he reveals the nature verse side of .he envelope. Don't write system.
of his work. Further: "We work ac- anything which in case of need you Another way to evaluate the perfor-
cording to the rule: 'nobody should cannot defend in a court of law. We mance of public sector enterprises is
know more than it is necessary for him have other possibilities for communi- to take a careful look at the impact
to know'. Never ask questions about cation than the post; that good old the growth of these enterprises has on
others and never say too much. You telephone."
the income distribution in the country.
would come to learn what is important
An approach such as this becomes
for you." According to Extra-Dienst, many US
particularly relevant if one recalls the
Major Black of MALICI demands of soldiers stationed in West Germany
Prime Minister's recent statement that
Jbe prospective mercenaries detailed have protested against advertisements
"our public sector is an essential feature
personal data as well as military quali- scliciting mercenaries in official publi-
fications. The letter should also con- cations of the Army. A soldier of the and dynamic instrument of socialism".
tain the motives why the applicant First Battalion of the 40th Artillery This suggests that while improved per-
wants to become a mercenary. These Regiment in Hanau (West Germany) formance of public sector enterprises,
particulars accompanied by a photo- has called upon the commander-in- in terms of profits, profitability, and
graph should then be addressed to the 'chief of US troops in Europe to pro- capacity utilisation, is important, one
Post Box in Abington. "Please don't hibit the supply of Overseas Weekly must also judge their performance by
address the envelop to. me. Don't in army circles. what they have done, and are doing,
to ensure that the fruits of their deve-
lopment reach the vast majority of the
OFFICIAL PAPER people - particularly those living below
the poverty line.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises
Public Sector : 'Who Benefits ? (BPE) provides no information on the
extent to which the fruits accruing from
Anand P Gupta the growth and development of the
MUCH has been said and written about also he noted that the financial results, Central Government enterprises have
the growth of public sector enterprises as presented by the Bureau in its reached the poor. It is a pity that,
in the country. A report released 1974-75 report, have not taken into although the Bureau has now been in
recently by the Bureau of -Public account the losses incurred by the nine existence for as many as 11 years, it
Enterprises shows that, while the capital subsidiaries of the National Textile has not undertaken any analysis of the
employed in Central Government enter- Corporation. If these losses - which impact the growth of public sector
prises (other than departmental pro- amounted to about Rs 34 crores - are enterprises has had on income distribu-
jects) increased in 1974-75 by 26.09 taken into account, the total losses tion in the country. I fully recognise
per cent (from Rs 5,255.90 crores to suffered by the operating companies of the various problems generally con-
Rs 6,627.15 crores), the value of pro- the Central Govemment in 1974-75 fronting such an analysis. However,
duction from these enterprises went up aggregate as high as Rs 172.79 crores I do feel that an attempt can neverthe-
by as much as 44.07 per cent (from as against only Rs 78.50 crores in less yield results that may be regarded
Rs 7,362.69 crores to Rs 10,607.47 1973-74. as reasonably meaningful.
crores). Equally impressive has been As for the profit-making companies, Considering that development strategies
the performance in profits: while the there is at least one point which merits which concentrate on gainful employ-
gross profit has registered an increase mention. While it is true that better ment are the best means of getting rid
of 67.63 per cent (from Rs 333.59 utilisation of capacity has been of con- of mass poverty and human misery and
crores to Rs 559.21 crores), the overall siderable significance in improving the of improving income distribution, let
net profit (after tax) has recorded a pre-tax profits of these companies (which us first take a careful look at what the
much sharper rise of 184.57 per cent rose by 98.51 per cent over the pre- Central Government enterprises have
(from Rs 64.50 crores to Rs 183.55 vious year, to Rs 451.27 crores), the done to meet the challenge on the
crores). Profitability, too, improved tact remaiinsthat inflation too has made employment front in the country. An
sizeably: the return on capital employ- an important contribution to this in- analysis based on the BPE data shows
ed shows a rise from 6.35 per cent in crease. And this becomes obvious if that growth of employment in these
1973-74 to 8.44 per cent in 1974-75. one looks into the perforrmanceof some enterprises has lagged behind the
These figures are impressive, but let of the biggest profitmakers. The Oil growth in capital employed and that in
us not be carried away by them. Not and Natural Gas Commission more than value added. What is worse, one even
all the Central Government enterprises doubled its pre-tax profit, from Rs finds examples of enterprises in which
have done well. Indeed, out of the 24.51 crores to Rs 50.77 crores, largely growth in investment and that in value
120 operating companies covered by because of the rise in oil price. The
the Bureau of Public Enterprises in its Indian Oil Corporation's pre-tax profit
report for 1974-75, as many as 39 com- rose by Rs 21.33 crores, part of which When corresponding with the
panies have suffered losses - with 'the was due to stock profits accruing as Circulation Department, subscri-
average loss per company being as high a result of the rise in prices. Hindustan
as Rs 3.56 crores. In the previous year, Steel improved its performance by as bers are requested to mention
only 30 companies had suffered losses, much as 924.20 per cent (from Rs 4.71
their subscription numbers.
and the average loss per company had crores. to Rs 48.24 crores), only partly
been lower at Rs 2.62 crores. It may on account of improved output, but

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