South Africa’s white minority government faced a severe crisis in the 1970s as it attempted to support major industrial expansion and a dynamic economy while maintaining its separate development policies. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the South African economy had been described as ready to “take off” as manufacturing moved to the dominant position in the economy. At the same time, the economy suffered from labor shortages, suppressed wages, restricted product markets, and inflation, as a direct result of the government’s restrictive labor policies. In a speech to industrialists and academics, Harry Oppenheimer of the Anglo-American industrial group stated that these industrial and economic problems were a direct result of governmental policies which limited the use of African labor and therefore throttled back the entire economy.