In a move hailed by South Africa’s victims and survivors of apartheid-era gross human rights violations, the South African government has written to the judge presiding over the South Africa Apartheid Litigation claims…that it is now believes that the New York Court is an appropriate forum for the claims. The claims, against General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co., IBM, Rheinmetall Group AG, and Daimler AG are based upon allegations that the corporations aided and abetted apartheid crimes…committed in violation of international law. The South African government’s new position undermines one of the corporations’ major defences – that an American court should not hear the matter because the lawsuit undermines South Africa’s sovereignty.