End Loans to Southern Africa (ELTSA) campaigned for the end to apartheid through the imposition of effective financial sanctions. It was established in 1974 by the Reverend David Haslam to campaign initially against loans by Midland Bank, together with other European banks, to the South African government through the European American Banking Corporation. It subsequently broadened its activities to campaign through consumer and shareholder action, parliamentary lobbying and other activities against all foreign, and particularly British, assistance to South Africa and for the implementation of the United Nations General Assembly resolution to end all new investment in and financial loans to South Africa. ELTSA carried out research into British banks and companies, produced information and campaigning documents and pioneered the techniques of pressure group shareholder action. A major element of its banks campaign was the boycott of Barclays Bank. In addition to the banking and disinvestment campaigns ELTSA was involved in the campaign to isolate South African gold through the World Gold Commission and through Embargo it supported the oil embargo of South Africa, with a particular focus during the late 1980s on the boycott of Shell.
In 1994 ELTSA was transformed into the Southern Africa Economic Research Unit (SAERU) to address the economic legacies of apartheid and encourage financial assistance to the region.
From the guide to the Archive of End Loans to Southern Africa, 1974-1995, (The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House)
