1961, when South Africa became a republic and left the Commonwealth.
Tensof thousands of white South Africans were born in Britain, hundreds
of thousands had relatives and close friends there, and the culture of En-
glish-speaking white South Africans was oriented toward Britain. The
South African economy also meant far more to Britain than to any other
country. In 1978, Britain was responsible for about 40 percent of all for-
eign investment in South Africa and a considerable share of the trade.
About 10 percent of British overseas direct investment was in South Africa,
and British banks-Standard
Chartered and Barclays International-con-
trolled 60 percent of South African bank deposits. Some South African
emigres, white as well as black, organized a vigorous antiapartheid move-
ment in Britain, but from 1965 until 1980 Britain's concern in Southern
Africa was focused on the Rhodesian problem, since white Rhodesia's
unilateral declaration of independence was an act of rebellion. British
administrations, Conservative as well as Labour, joined in the antiapar-
theid rhetoric, but even Labour vetoed resolutions for sanctions in the
Security Council, except in 1977, when Britain abstained on the resolution
for an arms embargo against South Africa.s" South Africa's other major