SOUTH AFRICA BARS FINANCIAL TRADING AS UNREST GOES ON

A leading anti-apartheid activist, the Rev. Allan Boesak, was detained by the South African authorities yesterday, a day before he was to lead protesters to the prison to demand the release of the jailed black nationalist Nelson Mandela. Dr. Boesak was seized by plainclothes policemen and was told that he was being detained under the Internal Security Act. In Washington, the United States formally protested Dr. Boesak's arrest. [Page A4.] 'Abnormal Pressure' Cited ''These steps have been taken so that South Africa can continue to meet all international obligations,'' South Africa's Finance Minister, Barend du Plessis, said in announcing the suspension of trading. His statement was made late in the evening in Pretoria, the country's administrative capital, long after markets there had closed and as the currency trading rooms in New York were emptying in the late afternoon. Such moves ''accelerate the problems,'' the banker said. ''They don't create an environment conducive to foreign investment. They create an environment of getting out before they put even more controls on.'' Capital flight ''is the highest it has been since the beginning of apartheid,'' said Benjamin Weiner, president of Probe International, a research firm in Stamford, Conn., that provides political and economic information to multinational corporations. ''It's currently between $2 billion and $3 billion a year, probably closer to $2 billion,'' he said.

Full text: New York Times, Aug 28, 1985

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