The US Government has asked a US Appeals Court to dismiss an attempt by companies to have the reparations claims brought by victims of apartheid violations thrown out of court, says a Cape Times report.

A statement by President Barack Obama's government to the Second Circuit District Appeal Court has effectively pulled the rug from under five multinational companies that stand accused of aiding and abetting the apartheid state, lawyers for the complainants said. The companies - Ford, General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, Rheinmetall and IBM - have based their arguments for the claims to be dismissed on previous concerns expressed by the US and South Africa that their foreign relations would be damaged by the claims. According to the report, Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, who is spearheading the other victims group's claims, is quoted as saying: 'We are walking on air.'
Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)

Meanwhile, 10 000 people in the Eastern Cape have come forward as complainants in the multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit - now set to be heard before a US court on 6 January - against some of South Africa's top international firms. A Daily Dispatch report says the firms will be taken to task for their alleged role in aiding the apartheid regime. The report says Mercedes-Benz SA is accused of supplying apartheid forces with armoured Unimog military vehicles used to suppress public meetings and marches in the country. GM and Ford are also accused of 'aiding and abetting torture ... extra-judicial killing and apartheid'. IBM is accused of providing technology used by the apartheid regime in displacing South Africans to Bantustans.
Full Daily Dispatch report