Ford negotiating to sell South African operations

Ford Motor Company appeared set yesterday to relinquish its South African operation and become the latest American firm to quit under pressure from anti-apartheid groups. The chairman of South African Motor Corporation, in which Ford has a 42 percent stake, said Ford was negotiating with employees to transfer a major part of its stake in the company to a trust for the benefit of its predominantly black work force.

Scores of US firms, including International Business Machines Corp., General Motors Corp., and Eastman Kodak Co., have pulled out of South Africa since 1984 when riots on an unprecedented scale erupted in black townships. More than 2,500 people have died since.