Swiss–South African Association


The Swiss–South African Association was an organization based in Switzerland, founded in Zurich in May 1956 to promote relations with South Africa and to function as a Chamber of Commerce. A number of prominent business personalities were active in the association, such as Adolf Jann, Ernst Schmidheiny, Dieter Bührle and Georg Sulzer.
At the time of its founding, the association had 47 individual members and 81 companies as members. However, over the years it became more dominated by individual membership.
Adolf Jann was the founding president of the association. In 1964 the presidency was passed over to Sulzer. In 1984 Anton Ernst Schrafl became president; Georg Meyer took over as president in 1988. In October 1988 Meyer was decorated by the South African president P. W. Botha with the Order of Good Hope.
Politically, the association defended the Apartheid regime in South Africa. In the bulletins of the association, white supremacy in South Africa was defended in terms of their "right to exist". Political equality between Whites and Blacks was portrayed as problematic, if not impossible. Upon the foundation of the first Bantustan state, Transkei, the association lobbied the Swiss government to recognize the new state.
In 1997 the association hosted president Nelson Mandela at a meeting. In 1999 the Swiss–South African Association merged into the Swiss–South African Chamber of Commerce.